Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I thank the Member for his comments. I realize every Member in the south at some point has been asking for recognition of their highways in their ridings, by having some capital directed towards a particular highway. As Members know, the department is faced with reductions in our budget, rather than increases. As a result, there is no way the department can go forward with all of its plans for improvements to the highway systems.
I could give an example...even if we were prepared at some point in the last two years to start directing more resources towards Highway No. 5, along came the oil and gas industry on Highway No. 7, and impacted that highway. We have to respond to situations over there before the highway totally disappears.
We are caught in a situation where we keep trying to identify capital improvements to all the highways, but at the same time we are being asked to reduce our capital expenditures to meet our fiscal situation. I would like to point out to the Members, Mr. Chairman, the department was hit with an overall 15 percent reduction in capital. Even though it levels off at 10 percent across the board in all departments, this particular department has been reduced by over 15 percent in capital.
In order to give the Members some idea as to whether or not we have future plans for Highway No. 5, I will ask the deputy minister to speak towards that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.