Thank you, Madam Chair. The Member mentioned the Tlicho road realignment studies. That is a real good news story. I am glad that you see it that way, as well as that we are finally looking at some new roads, but the studies are looking at realignment, some geotechnical work. There is going through the Canadian Shield so the chances are there will be some blasting studies that have to be done in that area.

But in terms of the Mackenzie Valley highway, a bulk of that type of work was done in the '70s in terms of where the highway alignment...I am not too sure, but I think some of the geotechnical was done, what is under our roads that are there right now. The bridges that are installed and are there right now, that is part of our overall strategy. The Member is absolutely right; he has the bridges, now where are his roads? We continue to strive and work towards that, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you. The Minister is right on the button on this one here, Madam Chair. We are starting to get our bridges and we want to look at where our roads are. Certainly, I agree with some of the comments by some of the Members in terms of the road between here and Yellowknife. That is a fairly good road compared to our roads in the Sahtu. That is a smooth road. I think some of the Members need to drive on our winter roads up in the Sahtu; then they can talk about roads. Then, Madam Chair, they could really see the type of roads that our people in the Sahtu region have to drive on. Winter roads, there are roads in other ridings that certainly require some improvement, but gee whiz, our roads are forgotten. They are just like orphaned roads. Last year, I called it the goat road.

---Laughter

It is a crying shame that all this activity going into our region, to improve our roads up there and have some proper planning in our region. I think somewhere within the department's planning, that we are certainly not getting the attention that we would like to see, the same type of attention that has gone into the Ingraham Trail. Two million dollars into that road. It is nothing there except people living on the road there. There are no oil,

gas and minerals. It is coming into our region. I am sorry to say, Madam Chair. That is the truth here. I can understand there is an oil plan to our gas plant or some mineral activity, but there are cabins out there. People are living out there, and they are paving that road for how many miles? You forget about our road that we have our whole region that has mineral development and mining activities. Madam Chair, I get really passionate. I get really angry inside in terms of seeing that this is still happening in this day and age and that our people have to be so happy that we have roads that go to each other's communities. We shouldn't be driving on roads at 30 kilometres an hour because it is not really a highway. It is a winter road, and you should be happy because you have it open. Yet you pave the road right out here. I call it the best bush road in the Northwest Territories on the Ingraham Trail. I am really happy that the Minister saw some light in support of the bypass in our community, by not having the road go through our community, big trucks. That is a safety concern such as Yellowknife here. They talk about it on TV about big trucks going through their communities. I support that section of Yellowknife where they don't have to have big trucks going through the school ground. That is a safety. Kids' lives are worth it. So things like that, I really think about.

I am really happy that the Minister made a bypass in Tulita and Norman Wells. I am glad. You guys are doing some work. I certainly see that we certainly could use some more improvements. I know you guys are working hard, but come down to or bring your planning people into our communities, sit with our people there, look at some of the roads that could be improved. We could certainly save this department a lot of money. I think we need to show some presence. I hope they establish a regional office in the Sahtu and show some presence that we could have them. I am very surprised they don't have a regional office on the Ingraham Trail to look at that road there. Two million dollars into that road. It is just mind boggling, Madam Chair, to my people in the region.

Madam Chair, I guess I want to ask the Minister in terms of...I will ask him again in terms of our road. Are there some real concrete plans in terms of how we improve our roads for safety? I know there is money being put in there when we have oil development activities into the region in terms of paving our road with water. I think, last year, we surely appreciated it. We felt it this year because there was not so much oil activity, dollars going into our winter roads. Madam Chair, we want to see the benefits of a winter road. I am not too sure about the other regions, but we certainly want to see the benefits of our winter roads. We certainly want to see those bridges go up. I know there were some bridges that were a challenge to put in. I think they are going to look at it again this year. We are about 20 years behind Yellowknife, or 10 years. I hope the Minister can at least give some good news to the people in our region. I am just going to tone it down a little bit now. I drove those winter roads and I know what people are going through. I see the amount of work that is going in there. I hear about the amount of work that is going into other regions. The road from here to Behchoko is good and smooth. I don't know why some of them are complaining about it. Come on our roads and drive it. Then we talk. I have said enough, Madam Chair. I want to give some time to the Minister to respond to some of my comments. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Member raises many questions that are very important to him and his riding and for our department. Absolutely, safety and transportation of the public is the number one priority on all our roads. The Member speaks about how much effort we are putting on Highway No. 3, but the reality of it, Madam Chair, is that there are 10,000 trucks that go up there every year and all in bulk and during the winter months. We do have to pay attention for our travelling public that is up there as well. In fact, we did receive extra funding from the federal government because it is one of the roads that are impacted by pressures of resource development. So we are spending attention on there and the Slave Geological Province. We have to admit and say, yes, that is driving our northern economy right now. We do have to provide resources to maintain that infrastructure that is going up there as well.

In terms of capital money being spent on the Mackenzie Valley winter road, we did receive $41 million over six years from Corridors for Canada I specifically identified for the Mackenzie Valley Road. We have been spending those monies. That is part of our big bridge program that is happening up there. That is where we are spending all of our money on the bridges. We are allocating $1 million a year to make improvements on the Mackenzie Valley winter road. Not to mention, the last couple of years, we have been receiving support from the industry. The last fiscal year, we received $500,000 to make ice roads, actually. That is why the roads were smoother. This year, because there was less development, industry is contributing just that much less. We are not able to do all of the roads, but we are able to make a bit of an impact and water what roads we could. We are not building ice roads. We are watering the roads and so we are accommodating the best we can. In fact, our highway maintenance contracts up there for winter roads, we have allocated extra money and negotiated an increase for better services on our winter roads up there, Madam Chair. So we are expending monies on the Mackenzie Valley winter road and the system and striving towards our long-term goal of eventually having an all weather road system up that way, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Activity summary, highways, operations expenditure summary, $42.786. I have Mr. Ramsay and Mr. McLeod and Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a question in regard to the Deh Cho Bridge and the disposition of that project, the loan guarantee has been extended a number of times, Madam Chair, over the time I have been here. It has been three and a half years since I have walked through the front doors here. Are we any closer today in shoring up federal dollars to make this project a reality? When are we going to say enough is enough and not keep extending the loan guarantee? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Absolutely, we have set a target date of March 31st, 2007, of this year to determine exactly what we are going to do with our Deh Cho Bridge proposal. Being consistent, we

are waiting for the federal government budget rollout on March 19th. There are lots of indications, although none confirmed. We keep getting it time and time again, Madam Chair, that there will be money for P3s of which the Deh Cho Bridge will qualify for as well as any special infrastructure allotments that may happen with the budget. That has happened because we still have our P3s and Canadian strategic infrastructure funding proposal before the federal government as well as our requests for their highways and borders infrastructure fund and the bridge certainly qualifies for that. So a lot hinges around the budget time and so we look forward to the federal government's budget, but up until that time the strategy that we're taking on the Deh Cho Bridge is we will continue to have a firm deadline of March 31st of what we want to do and, in fact, what this Legislature wants to do as well, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Ramsay.

That's good. Thank you for the update.

Thank you. Next I have Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Madam Chair. A couple questions on this page and on some of the Minister's opening remarks. One of the things I brought up is the $47 million and it said the level of funding went up due to ongoing federal infrastructure initiatives. I'd like to know what that means. Are they matching the money? Are they giving us the $47 million? My reading on this is they came up with the initiative, so who's financing the initiative that they came up with?

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. The $47 million that I reference in the opening remarks is capital disbursements by the department of which $24 million is federal funding for this year. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks to the Minister for that response. Another interesting paragraph here was the roads that were constructed in the 1960s and 1970s are nearing the end of their lifecycle. Can the Minister explain how a road or a highway nears the end of its lifecycle? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Sorry, just some clarification on the CSIF funding, it is 50/50 cost sharing from the federal government. In terms of road lifecycle, we're talking about the structures that build up our road, they deteriorate over time. Culverts built in the 1950s and 1960s are in those roads and they have to be replaced. We're talking about the grade of the road, as well. All those just deteriorate over time and so, often, we're finding throughout our North we're often rebasing all our roads, digging them up and making them stronger and firmer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Another one of the concerns that I have is Highway No. 8 and I notice there's some money going into it again this year which I think is much needed. I would like to know how that money is disbursed. Does the regional office decide how the money is going to be spent, what repairs are going to be made? I'm thinking more in particular of dust control, and as the Member from Mackenzie Delta will verify, the dust control is much needed on the Dempster Highway. The Inuvik to Fort McPherson route of it is dangerous driving, it's like driving on marbles. It's dusty and it's very dangerous. We've been fortunate that we haven't had as many accidents as we could have had on that road. I can think of a few offhand where people have lost their lives, but how many more lives do we need to lose before we realize that the dust control is a big issue on that highway? We've got, I think, 259 kilometres, I believe, from Inuvik to the NWT/Yukon border and there's little stretches of it that have dust control. I'd like to know whose responsibility it is to ensure that the money goes to something that's much needed like dust control. I think that all the people of Beaufort-Delta or Mackenzie Delta will agree with me on this one, that they do need to do something about the dust on this road. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. The $5 million that was referenced is capital money. It's the actual reconstruction from the Yukon border inwards towards Inuvik, and that's where we're starting. That's what we're talking about, that we have to redo those roads. The Member talks about dust control and applications and that's something that's handled in our O and M allocations for the Dempster Highway. The department is responsible for dust control on our highways, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Menicoche. Mr. McLeod.