Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wish to offer a few general comments to the Department of Transportation and I just want to, first of all, recognize the fact that the department is spending $46 million on capital projects and $83 million in operations expense and that's a good thing.

I think that's an improvement in terms of capital spending in comparison to years before, and I think this is the kind of department where I'd like to see more and more capital money going into, because this is the stuff that government is supposed to do. Government needs to build highways, and bridges, and airports. Those are the capital investments that we need to make, especially in the North at this time.

I wanted to also recognize the work of the Minister of Transportation. I'm not completely unable to compliment Ministers and I know that the compliment has to be given when it's due, because a lot of money that he's gotten has come from the federal government. I guess it might have something to do with the fact that there have been opportunities for federal investment because so many of our projects rely on federal funding that when we do get them, credit is given to the Minister.

Also, I'd like to tell the Minister that I appreciate the progress he's making on Highway 3. I could almost see the end of that road and I want to make sure that the Minister invites us all when he finally finishes that. I want to say, for the record, that I support the Mackenzie Valley highway going all the way to Tuk and I hope that the Minister will continue to work on that and sooner than later, and hopefully not too far distant in the future we can all drive from one end of the Northwest Territories to the other. I used to talk to the former deputy minister about how my mother and I enjoy driving from Halifax to Victoria and, well we drove from Halifax to Yellowknife and for her birthday, I think her 70th birthday. I asked her what she wanted to do and she wanted to finish the country. So we drove to Victoria and back, and I told her for her 80th I'd take her to the Yukon, but she said we have to do that sooner than her 80th and I'm hoping that my mom's healthy enough to be around for a long time. I think and I hope to be able to drive her to Tuktoyaktuk without having to go to the Yukon. I really want to state, for the record, my support. I think some of the economic projects that are happening in the North gives us an opportunity to do that and that's always a good thing.

I want to, once again, state my support for the Deh Cho Bridge. I've been a supporter of that since the beginning and I know that, because of the rises in commodity prices and the international markets that we have to reckon with, it is a difficult time, but I don't know if we will ever have a really good time. As long as China keeps going for the next 50 years, well, I don't know if we're going to see a decline in steel prices and such, but that's the kind of vision I support. At least when we build highways and bridges one good thing about it is that they can't be built in Calgary, you know. They've got to be built here and they stay here. I support that. I do understand that we have to do due diligence to make sure that we have control over the cost and we do it as economically as possible, but when you look at the weather system changing lately, I don't know if we can rely on winter roads anymore. I mean, we have to really work hard to replace much of the winter roads into all-weather roads and I think our industries around Yellowknife especially rely on that, and I think it could be the case for all of the Territories. So I just want to speak in support of that.

Overall, I can't wait to get the Highway No. 3 finished. I had the opportunity to look at the back rooms of the airport renovation. That's pretty impressive and I know that the changes happened January 1st and I didn't hear anything about it. So I guess the transfer and the changes to the security system there worked out well.

So I believe that I'm going to have some more questions as we go through the detail, but I wanted to make that general comment and tell the Minister to keep up the good work. I know I don't bother him very much, but I do watch what's going on and whenever I do go to the Minister's office, I usually get very good service. So I want to take this opportunity to thank them. Thank you.