Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I sympathize with the Member, in that his highway is not being addressed at this point in time with chip sealing. I am optimistic that we are going to find some funding in the near future that we could use towards expanding our capital. I am also encouraged by the report from the committee that they do not feel that this department should bear any more cuts in our capital programs because we are, in fact, starting to suffer as to our ability to maintain what we have and bring it up to national standards.
In the past, Highway No. 5 was addressed with some hard topping, as the funding was available. It is just unfortunate that the funding is very reduced now. Remarkably, as I have been told, up to 50 percent reductions in the last four to eight years. We are, in fact, barely operating as a department in our ability to bring our existing highways up to standards. We definitely need new funding sources.
As far as the Slave geological province and whether or not Highway No. 4 will become part of the resources as suggested, we have no decisions on that yet. It is included in the Northwest Territories Highway Strategy and that has not been accepted or presented to Cabinet yet. We are expecting that sometime this fall, when the department will have all the information in from the committees and from the different areas. There have been no decisions made yet at this point, where the highway will take off towards the Slave geological province. Thank you.