Thank you, Mr. Chair. I, too, would like to raise the issue in regard to our infrastructure. Over the years we’ve seen some incidents where we’re lucky we didn’t lose any individuals’ lives because of the collapse on the Dempster Highway, the road collapse in regard to Highway No. 7. I think it’s an important part of our infrastructure. It’s just like anything else: we have to take care of it, and we also have to ensure that we maintain, upgrade and also evaluate, assess and test.

We can’t lose sight that this government was sued at one time for $1 million because of an accident that happened around the Yukon border on the Dempster Highway, where the road collapsed. There was ice that melted under the road. The road gave way. There was an MLA from the Yukon who was driving an 18-wheeler. The wheel hit the pothole, and basically the vehicle went and flipped, and he died.

We can’t lose sight that we were sued once because of the condition of the road, through no fault of our own but because you don’t know what’s underneath by way of ice and ice melting or permafrost and also because of the aging infrastructure we have. Most of this infrastructure was built back in the ’50s going into the ’60s and on to the ’70s. I think that infrastructure is not immune to wear and tear, and we do have to continue to invest in that infrastructure.

On the side of safety, I know that in this department safety is your number one issue. I think we also have to realize that a lot of these things could be prevented by simply doing better inspections: making sure we go out on the road, check the culverts, check the road conditions. If there’s a pothole in the road, you don’t just go and fill it in

and put a flag in it. I think you have to assess how big of a problem you have by way of melting permafrost from underneath the road versus from on top.

I think this problem will become more and more apparent because of what we’re seeing with global warming. We’re seeing sloping in the mountains, and streams are now basically washing themselves out. I think we have to do a better job of making sure we continue these inspections. I’d just like to ask the Minister: because of these situations, have we increased the number of inspections on our highways to ensure the culverts are being checked regularly? Are we checking to make sure that when we see a pothole open up in the road, it is basically being worn out from underneath versus up to top? There is the bigger problem underneath, though. I’d just like to ask the Minister: exactly how often do they do that, and are we expanding the inspections of our highways?