Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this morning I would like to give a Member's statement on the all-weather road in the Sahtu.
Mr. Speaker, I don't understand why this government spends a lot of money fixing the Ingraham Trail, which some people have called the best bush road in the North. Communities like mine don't have any bush roads like that, Mr. Speaker. The cost of living in the Sahtu is almost double that of Yellowknife. Yellowknife isn't a cheap place to live, so you can imagine what the communities face in the Sahtu region. In the rest of the world, poor people eat potatoes because they are cheap and because there is nothing else to eat. They even feed them to their farm animals, Mr. Speaker. When you live in the Sahtu, potatoes are very expensive. We only eat them on special occasions and even then we slice them very, very thin.
---Laughter
In Colville Lake, for instance, a four kilogram bag of sugar sells for $25; a can of pop, $2.50; a tin of evaporated milk sells for $4. We are also really isolated. Mr. Speaker, for a few weeks a year, we have a winter road; a few weeks. The rest of the time if you want to see your family in Fort Good Hope, it will cost $400 return per person and that's just from Colville Lake. If you go to Norman Wells and back it costs you almost $500. Mr. Speaker, driving from Wrigley to Tulita is 148 kilometres and it takes seven hours to drive, while it takes only one hour from Rae to Yellowknife; this takes into account the bumps in the road.
I am happy to say, Mr. Speaker, there is a solution. The Sahtu needs an all-weather road. With an all-weather road, Mr. Speaker, a few dollar's worth of gas will give some in the Sahtu access to training, jobs and family and good fresh food at a reasonable price. While the road is being built, my people can be trained as heavy equipment operators and gain experience in road construction.
I am asking them to do what is right and get to work on making an all-weather road in the Sahtu. For the benefit it will bring, there is no better investment. If we need to find partners to help us build it, then let's get to work on that too.
Mr. Speaker, I will be asking the Minister of Transportation if he has considered taking the first step in getting the people of the Sahtu an all-weather road. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause
