Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to speak today about a subject that Members have heard me speak about almost since the day I was first elected as MLA for Kam Lake in 2003.
That issue, Mr. Speaker, is the Kam Lake bypass road. This long-awaited, much-anticipated piece of public infrastructure finally looks as though it will be going ahead. The access road into Kam Lake Industrial Park will link the industrial park and Highway 3. It will address the issue of public safety, as there will be less truck traffic on Old Airport Road, and in the event of an accident or hazardous material spill at the top of Kam Lake Road there will now be an alternate route into and out of the industrial park. It will open up the west side of our airport for future development, and it will also allow the City of Yellowknife to access more industrial land for development.
Mr. Speaker, I am aware an MOU was signed earlier this year between the City of Yellowknife and the Government of the Northwest Territories on this bypass road. I want to thank the federal government for providing the GNWT with the multi-year, multi-million-dollar Building Canada Fund, which was the catalyst to finally getting the bypass road to the stage we’re at today. Funding from the Building Canada Fund, coupled with money from the City of Yellowknife, will eventually get this road built. I would also like to thank Mr. Yakeleya and the DOT department for brokering this MOU.
Mr. Speaker, the question now is when and how the funding will be allowed to flow so this important piece of transportation infrastructure can finally be built.
I will have questions for the Minister of Transportation at the appropriate time. Mahsi.