Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to do general comments on the Minister's statement that he made. Just on the physical inspection of pieces of passenger baggage. I just heard on the radio this morning that they found on a plane a live grenade. Just previously, a few weeks ago, I was listening to a radio program where some independent studies were done and some of these new machines that they put out at airports, didn't work to the capacity or didn't catch some of those things they were putting through. So I wonder if we are going to be using the same equipment that is being used down south. Will we have the same state-of-the-art equipment to protect our people who are heading south? That is for the airports.
Now I would like to do the highway maintenance snow removal and the question is, are these employees in the union that they have to work 8:00 until 5:00 and they don't work on the weekends? I know some staff work on weekends. I have seen it happen. I have travelled all highways, actually. In a few weekends in 2002, I drove the highway from Alberta north and I noticed that the only beats that were working on the weekends or snow falls, was the Providence beat and the Edzo beat. So they were the only two that were sanding and plowing on weekends. There was nothing going into Yellowknife, there was nothing going to the border. I am not sure about the one to Hay River. I didn't go to Hay River or Smith on that weekend. It's just that some beats are different.
Some people work different times. We must have some kind of a mission statement that says "accessible and reliable movement of traffic", but it seems that all the highway beats around the territory are doing it. I think maybe it's time to look at our highway act or how we administer the highway manual or whatever they use to make sure they are out there when it is needed and not because the hours are 8:00 to 5:00. Like I said, I notice some people are working out there. I saw a Yellowknife crew work out there once on a weekend, but most of the time they don't. They do often work on Highway No. 4 on the weekends because I do my hunting in that area and I see them there all the time. It's very hard to drive with all that gravel on the road hitting your windshield, so I don't drive it too often.
I would like to touch on the Detah ice road. If I am correct, the Detah ice road was there before the road was put in place around land, an all-weather road. That was the reason it was taken over by Transportation from the federal government. If that is going to be in your budget, it's going to be in existence, then maybe you should put the other two areas that are of concern and put them in your budget or delete Detah and we will all apply for access funding at the same time. We will all fight for the same dollars. What is fair for one should be fair to all the others. It's time this government was consistent in how they do things. Just because the federal government did it before doesn't mean we have to do it all the time. If the federal government identified extra special dollars for Detah, then maybe we should go to the federal government and ask for extra special dollars for the other two communities.
On safety, there have been a number of bison hits on Highway No. 3 towards Providence and Rae. So far, there hasn't been anything between here and Rae, but maybe one way of making it a little safer is that we should be putting some markers on the side with reflectors alongside the road that are flexible for snow removal, so you can see maybe every kilometre. Just from my experience of driving that road, a couple of times they had those reflective posts on the side of the road and if a bison crosses in front of it, it blacks it out and it shows that there is something that crossed in front of that marker. I know it's a lot of kilometres there, but maybe a few dollars could save a lot for motorists and maybe even save lives in the future.
The other idea that had cropped up and we were throwing around in here before was shooting the bison with reflective paintball guns. Maybe he can work with RWED for that and shoot the bison on the highway with reflective paintball guns so they will always be marked, wherever they move, you see them. Maybe he could work with the other department. That's an idea. It's safe and it doesn't hurt them and it gives them a little colour.
Under readable signs, like I said in my statement, I noticed a new sign on the gravel and pavement and "meeting gravel" signs, the new sign. That new design is great, but if you drive the Old Airport Road, you have this nice green sign that says "New" in the middle and that means there is a new sign up ahead. So, any time we have construction ending and going onto the old highway section, maybe we should have one of those new signs. That will tell people you have to look out for the new sign. That is not there now and I think that's one of the things we need to do.
Also, just looking at the chipsealing on the highways, last year's chipsealing, although they were chipsealed, some of them were breaking apart and some have to be redone. I know my section is still holding, the one going into Rae, but there was no preparation for the chipseal. The curves were not banked enough, they are all negative curves, most of them, and it's pretty slippery even at the 80 kilometre speed sign. It gets pretty slippery; you have to slow it right down. So in the future when you do chipseal, we should have a nice preparation before we put the chipseal down. Otherwise, we will be coming back and redoing them again. So it's not only in my riding, but in the Fort Smith area, Fort Res area, preparation, time and it would reduce costs for the department.
Other than that, that's all I have for general comments. Thank you.