Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Dust control on the Dempster Highway is part of our O and M program and we do use, I believe, calcium chloride and it is an expensive venture up that far; we're looking at $5,000 a kilometre and up to 2,000 tons...Sorry, I'm just looking at some figures here. There were 2,000 tons applied on the Dempster Highway in the last year, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I've driven that highway in the last few years and I'm not sure where that 2,000 tons went. I'm sure it flew off the highway with the rest of the dust, because it's just not working. It's not working. I'll leave it at that on that particular subject. I will, and that's another issue that I should pursue with Transportation before this session is over, because it's something that's very important to the people up there.

The other question that I have is on the Mackenzie Valley highway again and I can't put it any better than my colleague from the Sahtu when he said, gee whiz.

---Laughter

I can't put it any better than that. I'd like to ask the Minister, we hear what Ottawa says all the time and they say we're going to connect Canada coast to coast to coast and Arctic sovereignty and all they seem to be doing is talking, talking, talking. I'd like to ask the Minister, what is Ottawa's real position on the construction of the Mackenzie Valley highway? They have the means and the ability to do it and I'm starting to realize that maybe they just don't want to do it, because it stopped construction in 1977 because development slowed down. However, development since then has doubled, maybe tripled, and will continue to go up. I'd hate to think that they stopped it because of development and forgot about the people, because there are people living along the route to the highway. So my question to the Minister would be, and I just said it already, is what is Ottawa's real position on our Mackenzie Valley highway? We hear what they say, and they say a lot, but we haven't seen them do anything yet. So I'd like to ask the Minister that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Myself, as the Minister, and all Members of our government have been consistent in the fact when we're approaching the government and saying, look, you know, the resources are up there and you guys want to access them and the one way to do it is to build the Mackenzie Valley highway. We threw lots of different scenarios at them, of course, like telling them that you can help the Mackenzie Valley gas project indirectly by building a road. For a while they did listen to that, but the basic thing that we get is that the need is still not perceived to be there for them to invest in the North. We continue to do that in all our submissions that we provide to the federal government, is that we provide a business case that there is a need -- CFC I, CFC II, Connecting Canada: Coast to Coast to Coast -- and we tried to make the case that the need is here and it's today and it's real. But the federal government continues to see that it's still an option for them, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Next I have Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My ranting and raving about the Ingraham Trail and the amount of money that's going into that highway is, as I referred to, the best bush road in the Northwest Territories. Mr. Chairman, some real good people live on the Ingraham Trail and kudos to them for having a real nice highway. Mr. Minister has indicated to me, Mr. Chairman, that there are tens of thousands of people that pass through there. It's a safety problem, you know, and if that was happening to my region I would certainly stand up and pay attention because that is a lot of vehicles and those people have to live through it a certain amount of time throughout the year. I guess that's the reasoning. Anyway, I have from my region similar cases that we want in our region and asking that consideration and effort and plans be given to our region that has potential for huge economic oil and gas activity. Once you complete the Bear River Bridge, that would be a signal that development can happen in larger volumes, at least, because of the completion of these bridges. Right now that's stopping a lot of the government from staying an extra month or so longer in our region. They indicated to us, so I want to say that in terms of our bridges, in terms of how soon when we can see the completion of the Blackwater Bridge, the Bear River Bridge. I know you're doing some work on Big Smith and looking at Little Smith also, and there are other bridges that need to be completed. It's just mind boggling that the federal government just doesn't see the need for continuing on with the Mackenzie Valley road in terms of a priority and an option. Maybe the pipeline should be an option for them, too, in terms of some type of leverage, but that's a whole other discussion.

Right now we're talking about highways and bridges and I would like to definitely see our bridges completed to show that we can make a huge contribution to the North and our region can contribute, too, like any other region, if we had the infrastructure there to do so. Mr. Chair, I'd like to take a few minutes to listen to what the Minister has to say, then I'll have two more questions and I'll be done. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Our government continues to spend money on the Mackenzie Valley road and, as I indicated earlier, we've got $41 million worth of investments over six years, of which there's two left. I know the Member remains frustrated over our level of investment in Highway No. 4, the Ingraham Trail, and in six years we invested, or do plan to invest a total of $12 million for that road. Once again, it's a safety consideration and maintenance of our infrastructure. The more trucks that are on the highway, there's more deterioration that happens and that's why the level of investment into the Ingraham Trail, to basically keep it up, the upkeep on it. Once again, the government recognizes the value of the resources that are being developed in the Slave Geological Province and we have to assist in that.

As well, we also recognize the amount of resources that the Member's own riding has there, Mr. Chair, in the Sahtu, and our need to go further and get the resources from our High Arctic and around Tuktoyaktuk, as well. To that end, the federal government has agreed with that business case, and the long-term strategy is to help us develop the bridges on the Mackenzie Valley winter road. That's why we're building bridges; it is part of our long-term strategy to eventually have an all-season or an all-weather road north, Mr. Chair. No, they're not being forgotten. We continue to strive towards that strategy. Well, this year, in particular, it is a huge blow to our government to look at the reality of not building a Bear River Bridge. We had the money at that time but, unfortunately, it was only good for 2004 dollars, so we had to reallocate the money that we had slated for the Bear

River Bridge and, in fact, we managed to get five more bridges in. I believe it was, and the deputy minister can correct me, I think it's a total of 34 out of 37 bridges will be completed for that section all the way up to Good Hope. We continue to strive and work towards our own goals of utilizing what resources we have for one of our priorities and that's the Mackenzie Valley highway. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I certainly would stand right next to the Minister with a pick and shovel if he wants to go to Ottawa to argue for our roads up the Mackenzie Valley and the need for bridges up there. We can certainly have a good business case for all the northern roads in the Northwest Territories. I'm letting my views known to him in terms of our roads.

One of the things that many of my constituents are asking is there's a real need to do some training and working and we haven't seen anything from this department in terms of advocating for a training program within the region from our communities. They talked about from all the communities in terms of getting a jumpstart on a Mackenzie Valley road where communities can do one kilometre to one and a half kilometres to two kilometres of road to start laying down the Mackenzie Valley road. There's no plans from this department in terms of how we can do that, even working on the road during some quiet time. There is money there, I know that. I'm not too sure if the money is all being spent in the region or where it's going. That's what the people are saying, let's get on this road and let's do some training programs and let's see some creative initiatives being developed by the department in Fort Good Hope, Norman Wells, Tulita, and even in Deline. I know Deline is off the corridor. Let's see some training programs where they can start laying down some work in the communities to initiate or get a head start on these roads that we're speaking of, the Mackenzie Valley road.

I want to ask the Minister if his department is doing some work in that area to present back to my leadership in the Sahtu region in terms of looking at the bridges, advance some work done to enhance or speed up the project on the Mackenzie Valley road in our region. Some realignment...Look at the Bear River road from Tulita to Deline, it goes very close to the Bear River waters and zigzags in the last portion of the road to the Bear Lake there and it's pretty dangerous and there's hardly any work being done there to realign that work there. It's safety issues that we're looking at. The Minister has indicated that $41 million has gone into the Sahtu region, I don't know if it's strictly the Sahtu region, or if he's talking about the whole winter road project in the Northwest Territories, because there are other regions that do have winter roads so...I'm just speaking on behalf of my region in terms of the type of work that needs to get in there. I guess we want to see the involvement where we have our people developing some of this work here, and that's why I keep advocating for even if you have a temporary office in our region on highways. He makes a good point and I do take his point well, but it doesn't seem logical that you have a regional office out of Fort Simpson coming up and telling people up in the Sahtu about roadwork and that. Then they go back to Fort Simpson after, back to the regional office. It's mind boggling. The Minister is right; he is hearing my frustrations about our roads and how it's been done in our region. I think the department needs to step up to the plate and show some leadership in terms of building roads in our region. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Absolutely. Our government can, and will, accommodate any training where and when we can, especially up in the Sahtu. If the projects are significant enough, like the Bear River project was, and the Blackwater, you could make a case that it is significant enough to look at some type of training that could be accommodated with it. If the money is there, we would love to accommodate that and include that as part of the package because it's capacity building, and developing our youth and our skills in the communities and regions is a priority and is always a good thing, Mr. Chairman.

But some of the smaller ones, like you are talking about great improvements and that kind of stuff, we don't foresee how it would work to ask a small contractor to take on a huge training component. It's just not doable. Perhaps it's something that the Member and the companies are going to joint venture in the Member's riding can look at and accommodate through their own negotiations. For our department, if it's significant enough, we would certainly work with anybody we can to include training as part of the package.

The Member brings up about his need to have a regional office for the Department of Transportation there. I have to applaud the Member for being consistent on that matter. When you look at the business case for our department, it just doesn't fit in our plan currently, but we continue to monitor and as the roads develop and as the workload increases in his riding, then we will certainly consider staffing it with a full-time position there. Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. I have Mr. Pokiak next.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a quick question for the Minister again. It has to do with the $2 million identified for the Ingraham Trail again. The Minister said earlier that one of the reasons why they do that is wear and tear on the road. With the Ingraham Trail, does the Minister put any money into maintaining that section of the trail? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. No. Seventy kilometres of Highway No. 4 is maintained strictly by ourselves, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi, Mr. Minister. Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With the level of activity the diamond mines use for that trail, has the department ever considered trying to sit down with the diamond mines to get money to maintain that road? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. No, Highway No. 4 is a Department of Transportation

responsibility and we continue to maintain it and keep that road up to safe driving conditions, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Minister. Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With that section of the road, would the Minister consider down the road to talk with the diamond mines so they can help maintain that road, rather than getting government to do it all the time? I think if they continue to use that road and we continue to put money into the Ingraham Trail, for us that money could probably be put to use for the Tuk-Inuvik highway and source 177. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.