There are lots of bridges, and people are very happy that the Blackwater bridge is being looked at. But I’m saying this bridge has been sitting there for about two years. It’s been sitting there. How long does it take an engineer to say, “We want to build approaches on both ends to complete it”? I don’t want to get into too much detail on the Oscar Creek Bridge in terms of the work that needs to get done there, but by God, you have to have that work done in the next couple of months. It’s been sitting there for two years.

Blackwater is not even on the banks of the Blackwater River, yet now let’s focus on Blackwater bridge, let alone Bosworth or Bear River bridges.

There are investments going into the Sahtu. There are millions of dollars going into the Sahtu oil and gas, and our return on investment is not too bad. But they could stay longer if they had those bridges there. They have the Blackwater bridge in there. Bosworth, I understand, is a temporary bridge. Oscar is just sitting there. They also got the Big Smith.

We have major investments going into the Sahtu region for oil and gas, mining exploration. We’d better have a good return on them for our people, because our roads are only open from January to the end of March. That’s it. Our cost of living is high. People who want to go out and take advantage of the winter roads to have a vacation, drive their vehicles down, are very limited compared to other regions that have all weather roads. Our people are starting to demand that these priorities take place in our region. Right now we don’t have that opportunity. We use the highway as the Mackenzie River.

When I go back home, they say, “Well, the other MLAs and other regions have roads. They have opportunities.” People in Délînê have to cross the Bear River Lake. They have to wait, and now that climate change is taking effect, they have to wait longer. They have companies in Délînê that want to do work. We can’t open the Bear River Lake ice crossing; it’s too warm. They’re losing millions, thousands of dollars.

That’s why I’m asking this department to put some emphasis on the region that doesn’t have all weather access roads. Put in a little higher priority. Our food might go down. That’s what I want to ask. I think I’m making more of a statement, Mr. Chairman, and I’m asking the department to have some leniency, some goodness in their hearts to look at people who live in the Sahtu who have these types of challenges before them.