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.