Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I’m glad to be reviewing the capital estimates of 2009–2010. As we had deliberated on the document and the different challenges, I, of course, have a regional perspective, more particularly from my riding. Roads and highways and our winter roads are of prime importance. There’s not a day that goes by that we’re not affected by the roads and the ability to travel on the roads. Particularly this spring, for instance, on Highway No. 7 there was actually a major failure in the base of that road, and they actually shut the highway down. That created a lot of excitement, if only because the highway is one of the ways that we get tourists up to our region, over to Fort Simpson. Those tourism dollars are important, just like anywhere else. As soon as the word got out that the highway had failed, word of mouth went far and wide.
It just goes to speak about the replacement of the roads or the complete rebuilding of the road that’s been on the books for some time, especially for Highway No. 7. I know that government in the last term had allocated a feast of dollars to it, and I’d like to see that level of expenditure continue. I’m glad to see it in here, but I’d also like to see, because it’s a major highway — in fact, it’s mentioned in many of our documents as part of a highway strategy — that a priority be included in reconstructing those portions of the highway. Like everywhere else, it’s about 30 or 40 years old. It will be prone to a lot more failures, and I don’t want to see that happen. I’d like to see the department concentrate on it.
To me it kind of looks like there may have even been a decrease in expenditures on Highway No. 7. Maybe the Minister can comment on that. I certainly don’t want to see that, especially not now. It’s no time to be reducing expenditures on that highway. The support for that highway has got to be at least the same or better than it was.
As well, in terms of our infrastructure I’ve noticed that in terms of our airport systems, one of the projects that we’ve been pushing for doesn’t even show up on the books anymore, Mr. Chair. That is, more particularly, the Trout Lake Airport relocation project. My colleague Mr. Abernethy has pointed it out as well. Sometimes projects fall off the books. Sometimes projects remain on the books, but they
remain in the capital plan. In this case, this particular project fell off the books as opposed to remaining on the capital plan. I’ve always maintained that it takes a lot of hard work just to get projects on the books, and to have it just fall off from one sitting to the next, without explanation or without even notifying me as the MLA, is kind of odd. I’d certainly like a good explanation of that.
At the same time, we’re reviewing our documents here. If the priority is not there for that project, but it should at least appear on the capital plans for future years and show up in that, then it would be very important to have that included. We do that in many different areas, many different regions. We take one project and say: okay; we can’t do it this year, but in future years we’ll do it. It remains on the books and highlighted, especially in documents such as this. At the bare minimum, Mr. Chair, that’s something I would be seeking: put it on the books; keep it on the books.
You know, I understand the many different priorities and initiatives that government has and the limited resources, but at the same time, we’ve got to strive. Future changes to the aviation guidelines and regulations impact the Trout Lake community as well. Just by not addressing those concerns…. A lot of it, of course, is haste, you know. Everybody knows in the whole transportation system that when they built that airport, it was actually part of the road, and to save costs they just built it on there. I think people and engineers from that industry kind of…. They had indicated that that’s not the best choice for alignment, and that’s the real issue here. Once you align it to prevailing winds, then you get safe transportation infrastructure. That was all Trout Lake and the aviation industry is looking forward to with the move to the building of this relocation project.
Anyway, these are arguments they use — and many, many more — in order to get this project on the books. To have it not on the books anymore is kind of like: what has happened to it? Does it mean it’s dead? But for me, I’d like to see it on the books in other years, in future years. If that’s the route we have to take, then I think that’s the route we should take, Mr. Chair.
Otherwise, I’m well aware of our capital infrastructure planning and guidelines. I think that we are on the right track with this dialogue that we’re having, this communication, as well as outside of this House and in the committee system. It goes a long way to re-evaluating what projects are important.
That goes the same for just dealing with the new issue of some renovations, as well, for the Fort Simpson hospital. There are some renovations planned. They’re off the books now, and we’re not too sure what’s going on with it. It doesn’t mean
that it’s dead; it doesn’t mean that it’s planned for other years. We don’t even see it on the books anymore. Again, that leads to a question. For us it’s still a priority. We’d like to get those projects done. We’d certainly like to see it mentioned in documentation that it’s still a priority. It still is a priority for our people, for our leadership and for our community.
So with that, Mr. Chair, I know that the Minister has been given the opportunity to respond to other Members, and I’d certainly like to hear his responses to my concerns. Thank you.