Yes, Mr. Chairman. Members of the committee, it is my pleasure to be here today to review the Department of Transportation's appropriation for 2000-2001.
The budget we are reviewing today is a modest plan that demands the Department of Transportation manage carefully within the tight limits of the government's present financial position. The department is requesting a total budget of $68,496,000 consisting of $46,670,000 for operations and maintenance of the transportation system and $21,826,000 for capital acquisitions.
The department plans to deliver its mandate to operate the territorial system of public transportation infrastructure safely and reliably; our airports, ferries and highways. The department's proposed appropriation for 2000-2001 stays pretty much the same as its 1999-2000 budget. There are no significant increases nor any significant reductions. With the stable budget proposed here, the people of the Northwest Territories can count on the department to maintain the transportation programs and services they rely on and expect.
As set out in the document, Towards a Better Tomorrow, it is this government's intention to lay the groundwork in the Northwest Territories for a more stable and prosperous future for all Northerners.
The recent expansion in the Northwest Territories' resource industries has placed greater demands on the territorial highway system. To keep pace with this heavier, industrial traffic, the Department of Transportation has planned capital improvements for Highways No. 3, No. 4, No. 7 and No. 8 where the impacts of the increased traffic have been heaviest.
The reconstruction of Highway No. 3 should progress by another 8 kilometres this year at a cost of $6 million. The department is involved in provincial-territorial discussions to apportion the $600 million National Highway Program announced by the federal government earlier this year. The new federal money for highways will be applied to accelerate the reconstruction of Highway No. 3.
In anticipation of continuing oil and gas industry development in the Liard Valley, approximately $500,000 is scheduled for grade stabilization and surface improvements on the first 50 kilometres of Highway No. 7 from the British Columbia border north to Fort Liard.
On Highway No. 8, the $2 million reconstruction program for 2000-01 includes the installation of a new bridge at Campbell Creek south of Inuvik. The bridge replaces two large diameter culvert pipes and should prove more habitat-friendly for fish stocks in the stream.
This year, the Department of Transportation intends to continue with its bridge program on the Mackenzie Valley winter road into the Sahtu. The completion of the Ochre River bridge at a cost of $960,000, by allowing the winter road to open earlier, should extend the winter road season by as much as a week. The longer operating season is important not only to the Sahtu communities but also for the oil and gas exploration programs in the region.
The Non-Renewable Resource Strategy maps out an investment program that would help bring our non-renewable natural resources into production, expand the territorial economy and reduce our financial dependence on the Government of Canada. Improved surface transportation access to our resources is, of course, central to realizing this economic potential. The Non-Renewable Resource Strategy incorporates much of the work the Department of Transportation has done on the technical feasibility and economic cost-benefits of new highways anti-transportation corridors. The completion of the Mackenzie Valley Highway from Wrigley to Tuktoyaktuk and improved access to the Slave Geologic Province are two of the strategy's principal recommendations for stimulating strong economic growth.
Mr. Chairman, these are the principal highlights of the Department of Transportation's program for 2000-2001. In line with the government's financial position, this is a modest budget. The few capital projects I have mentioned are important, but I know from the Members' comments here in this House, there is so much more that could and should be done to preserve and maintain our past investments in the territorial transportation system. We all look forward to better economic times that would let us catch up with some of the work we have had to put aside in these leaner years.
With that, Mr. Chairman, I conclude my remarks. Thank you.