Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to make my general comments on the Minister's opening statement. This is my first opportunity to express my support for the investment on the Highway Strategy.
Mr. Chairman, I do not know if you are aware, but I have had an ad on the local cable network asking people to respond to the budget. I have stated in my Members' statement as well that I have been talking to people to get feedback on what they thought of this. I have not been hearing too much negative input. Those who I talked to, where I had explained what this proposal was about as much as I knew, I think there is a general sense out there that people are willing to do their part to see that this highway -- at least the highway from Rae Edzo to Yellowknife -- will be paved much sooner than is planned.
Mr. Chairman, for that reason, I want to state very clearly here that I support the Minister and the Cabinet for being very bold and courageous in coming up with this idea to build Highway No. 3 and all other roads quicker than planned.
Mr. Chairman, subject to the details on the financing and more information that we may get from the economic impact on individual residents which we did not receive full information on, I think the greatest thing about this is that we will no longer talk about why Highway No. 3 or other highways cannot be built. We will have to now talk about why things cannot be done and why everything has to be in the negative because we do not have money from the federal government on resource revenue, or because we do not have devolution, because we do not have money from non-renewable resources, because we just do not have the money after we pay for the hospitals and schools, and everything else -- that there is no money for highways.
Mr. Chairman, I think everyone here knows that the government's capital budget has been steadily decreasing for the last ten years. It is now less than ten percent of our budget. I think it is even as low as eight percent of our capital budget. I do not think that our road system could handle that sort of deterioration without any infusion of new capital into our infrastructure. Highway No. 3, right from the border to Yellowknife, is becoming almost dangerous because of the additional loads that are being carried by necessity because of the resource development that is happening. I believe that is also the case for many other parts of the highway system. For that reason, I have to support this, Mr. Chairman.
I like this proposal for a number of other reasons also. I like the fact that it is dealing with all of the highway system and not just Highway No. 3. It purports to improve all highways considerably within a very short period of time than was ever thought possible. I like this because I no longer have to badger the Minister in the House about when would he get the money for Highway No. 3. I was running out of different ways of asking that question, and I am sure that the Minister was tired of answering the same question.
Mr. Chairman, I like the fact that Highway No. 3 will be built within three years instead of the 11 years that is currently planned. I could not really ask for any more money for Highway No. 3 because I knew that a lot of money was already going for Highway No. 3 out of the whole budget for transportation.
Mr. Chairman, I also like this because the money will go where it is collected most, not perfect, but I am glad that Highway No. 3 and the users of Highway No. 3 will pay all of the costs and beyond, and pay for some of the costs of building other parts of the road. I think that should eliminate anybody speaking about how Yellowknife gets everything at the expense of other regions. I think this will show that Yellowknife will carry its share plus more for the others.
Mr. Chairman, I like the fact that there is no question of clawback on this funding because it is a trust fund and the money will be a fee and a toll and not a tax. There is no question about whether or not the federal government would penalize us and jeopardize our financial status when it goes into a re-negotiation three years from now. This money will stay and the money will go towards the highway.
Mr. Chairman, I like this because once the roads are paved and chip sealed in some parts, we could build money to build the bridge over the Mackenzie River. There will be an ongoing mechanism in place to build our war chest to make sure that there is enough money to build on our capital situation.
Mr. Chairman, I know that almost all Members out of Yellowknife during the election had as their campaign slogan the acceleration of the reconstruction of Highway No. 3. I believe that this is the best chance we have to contemplate building this road in a sooner time period than the 11 years currently contemplated, which is absolutely unacceptable.
I also like this proposal because once this road is paved we will then finally be connected to the rest of the world and the rest of the country, and will no longer be the last capital city in the country not connected by a paved highway and by the trail that it is now. I believe that it will really encourage rubber-tire traffic and it will encourage all sorts of other development. Once a certain period of paying has passed, I think it will contribute to decreasing the cost of living in the North because we would be very much part of the mainstream.
Mr. Chairman, I hope that the Minister does not mind that I took most of the 10 minutes to talk about how much I like this proposal. Of course, I am constantly listening to my constituents to get feedback on what they think of it, but I really want to applaud the government and the Minister for being bold and coming out with a strategy about what we can do instead of what we cannot do. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.