Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d just like to know: what do the people of Mackenzie Delta have to do to bring attention to the road conditions of the Dempster Highway and the condition of roads in our communities — set up roadblocks and ask the travelling public to pay for these repairs? The road conditions of the Dempster Highway have to be pretty bad for someone from the Inuvik region to complain that the road is bad.
Again, I’m standing up in this House talking about the condition of the Dempster Highway. We hear complaints in regard to Highway No. 7, closure of that highway, complaints in regard to Highway No. 6.... And yet again, another gravel highway is being brought to the situation of being a public debate issue in this House. Yet we have other highways where we’re basically talking about chipseal, from Highway No. 3 to Highway No. 4 and now Highway No. 5.
We have to realize that the travelling public has to be our first priority, and the public safety, as the Minister states, is his number one priority. Yet people have died on our highways because of road conditions. We have to do everything we can to improve our highway systems.
In light of this being the 50th anniversary for Inuvik,
the Dempster Highway is an important link for those people travelling our road systems, and I think it’s important that we do everything we can. The Inuvik celebrations are just a couple of weeks down the road, and I think we have to do everything we can to get that road in place.
Mr. Speaker, I believe the last time a Minister drove on that highway we spotted five graders on the road system between Inuvik and the border. I’m wondering if that’s what it takes for this government to act: to have a Minister drive the highway, and then you see some action.
I’d like to ask the Minister at the appropriate time: exactly what does it take to maintain the Dempster Highway?