Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I suppose I am not the only Minister who has agreed this stretch of highway needs reconstruction. As a matter of fact, that is the whole purpose of the program, to improve the condition of the highway so it can handle the increased heavy traffic. I think the department recognized quite a while ago that this road was never designed for the type of traffic it is now experiencing.

We are in the process of reconstructing this highway section. The rate we are going at now, the rate this House allows us to proceed with, is $6 million a year. That is the pace we can go at right now. That is what has been allowed for the department in the past. We hope that is what will be allowed for us in the future. We will not know until the business plans are approved.

In the long-term, we are hoping the federal government will come forward with some federal funding and highway infrastructure money in this year's budget. However, we do not know that with any certainty. We have to wait until the federal budget comes out. It is the plan of the department that if we are able to tie in with federal funding, we would increase the reconstruction program. But at the rate we are going right now, at $6 million a year, we are looking at ten years. Thank you.