Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, with regard to the Deh Cho Bridge Act, I fully support the initiative that is being taken. I think it's about time that we, as the Northwest Territories, took our place with the rest of the country and our neighbours to the west, the Yukon with their bridges at river crossings. They have seen a real increase in their tourism traffic, year-round access in and out of the communities. I think because of the infrastructure they have in the Yukon, they've had an advantage over us when it comes to tourism traffic and bringing down the cost of living in the Yukon for those residents who are on the highway systems.
I feel that we, as a territory, have to take that major step and the Deh Cho Bridge is the start of developing that infrastructure. We do have other crossings in the NWT such as the Liard River crossing, which is a ferry operation, Camsell Bend, which is another section of the Mackenzie, the Tsiigehtchic Mackenzie crossing and the Peel River crossing just to name a few, where the only means of crossing during the summer months is by ferry. I think that to bring down the cost to residents of development in the Northwest Territories, we have to find ways to give industry and the people of the North assurance that they can operate in the North and avoid these high cost operations. When we have to wait to put an ice bridge in, and wait when the ferries go out because of the break-up and freeze-ups, which has a major impact in all our communities where the cost of goods and services are driven up, it's important that we deal with that. So with that I do support this motion and thank you.