Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Like my colleagues, I, too, will stand up here today to talk about the benefits of constructing a Mackenzie Valley Highway from Wrigley to Tuktoyaktuk. My riding of Tu Nedhe will not have many direct benefits with the construction of the Mackenzie Valley Highway; however, I have hopes that the construction companies will recognize the rich resources of heavy equipment operators that exist in Fort Resolution. In Fort Resolution we have many very good heavy equipment operators and truck drivers.

Heavy equipment operators and truck drivers would have work on the Mackenzie Valley Highway for several years.

In addition to some employment in my riding, the entire NWT will benefit from the construction of the highway. The Mackenzie Valley Highway will lower the cost of living to those communities along that highway and will have a ripple effect on the rest of the North.

The workers needed to construct the highway will take a lot of families off income support. Again, this will have a positive impact on the rest of the Northwest Territories by relieving some of the social pressures on the GNWT budget.

This highway will have a very positive impact on tourism in the NWT. I feel that thousands of tourists will drive the loop using this highway and the Dempster Highway.

Once a highway is built through communities it opens the doors for many other benefits, such as a housing market and allowing professionals into the communities that would otherwise not live in these communities due to the isolation. Many professionals will not live in these communities because of the isolation and the fact that they cannot invest in a house. With the completion of the highway and the possible emergence of a housing market, professionals can purchase a home, build

equity, and remain in the community for longer periods.

The youth and the students will benefit from teachers remaining in the community for a longer term and we all know the benefits of a healthier youth population. In addition, longer term, stable health professionals will have a major benefit on the health of our people.

I support the construction of the Mackenzie Valley Highway in hopes of employment for my constituents and the lowering of dependence on the social purse which will benefit the entire NWT, including Tu Nedhe.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today you have and will hear Members of this House speak passionately about the need to move forward with the Mackenzie Valley Highway. The people of the Mackenzie Valley and the NWT have been saying that it must be built for years. Cece McCauley and her Women Warriors have been champions for the cause.

The Mackenzie Valley Aboriginal Corporation, or MAC group, has been actively lobbying the federal and territorial governments to proceed with the development of the highway.

Historically, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker saw the advantages to developing the road to resources. Under his direction and leadership, a vast amount of roads and railways were built in order to open up northern regions of Canada to create easier access to resources. Yet his vision has never been fully realized. A Canadian highway system stretching from coast to coast to coast still does not exist.

The 15th and 16th Assemblies have identified the

Mackenzie Valley Highway as a priority. The 15th Assembly developed a proposal titled “Connecting Canada: Coast to Coast to Coast” to complete the Mackenzie Valley Highway to the Arctic Coast and submitted it to the federal government in November 2005. This proposal outlined how the highway will facilitate resource development that will bring significant benefits to all of Canada, how the highway will ensure Canada’s sovereignty in the North, how the highway will improve Canada’s northern security and emergency response, how the highway will support the economic and social development of Northerners, and how the highway

will improve the North’s capacity to adapt to climate change. The proposal is on-line on the GNWT website and I encourage everyone to give it a read.

In these difficult economic times a national project is required. The GNWT cannot afford to build this national highway and, although important to the residents of the NWT, this must be a federal project. The federal government continues to talk about stimulus projects. The construction of the Mackenzie Valley Highway addresses and supports all of these statements. As a government we need to encourage the federal government to complete this national highway project and connect Canada from coast to coast to coast.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would want to add a little story to my Member’s statement. Mr. Speaker, some time ago, the elders were telling stories on the Norman Wells oilfield. Some of the elders claim that, when they passed through, they picked up the oil off the ground, put it in a lard pail and brought it to Tulita. When they got to Tulita, it was given to some of the Hudson Bay and the government people that took it down. Later on, some of the people came up from the south to claim the Norman Wells oilfield. That was about 89 or 90 years ago.

Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories has been noted over many studies of the vast amount of resources that are waiting to be capped. It has been said over time that the Northwest Territories could be true partners in Canada, if only we were taken seriously by the federal government.

Seriously, Mr. Speaker, the NWT has billions of resources that could be redistributed amongst the people of the Northwest Territories. For example, if the highway was built from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk, we could contribute to the national gross domestic product and billions, almost $58 million alone just in terms of the potential for oil and gas exploration. Just the highway itself on the royalties and the taxes, I understand there could be about $13.5 billion. If we could build a highway, that will be thousands and thousands of jobs just for the Northwest Territories and also have a little bit of room for people from the south to come up and work on our highway.

Mr. Speaker, this Mackenzie Valley Highway would open many resources in the Sahtu and other

regions in the Northwest Territories. The federal government could either win or lose depending on their next move in terms of supporting the Mackenzie Valley Highway.

Mr. Speaker, Northrock in March 2006 announced the largest oil and gas discovery in the last decade. The well is suspected to produce 100 times the volume of the average well in northern Alberta. That is near Tulita.

Mr. Speaker, the lard pail that I talked about the elders were saying when they shipped the lard pail out, the people have yet to return that lard pail to the people in Tulita. Mr. Speaker, if we build this road, hopefully that lard pail will come back on it.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to talk about the completing the Mackenzie Valley Highway. In 1972, the federal government announced they were going to build a highway from Fort Simpson to the Dempster in four years. I believe that it is time to focus our government’s and the federal government’s efforts to achieve these goals once again. The Mackenzie Highway was constructed to a few kilometres south of Wrigley. When construction stopped in 1977, only 210 kilometres had been completed. More than 800 kilometres of road remains to be completed to take the highway north to the Dempster and add the remaining link to Tuktoyaktuk.

One of the reasons that I am interested in the construction of the Mackenzie Valley Highway is because this will provide much needed economic stimulus to our North and provide a transportation loop that will encourage tourism and tourism-related businesses to develop and expand.

Another reason is that the communities in my riding of Nahendeh will benefit greatly from these increased traffic volumes and if we follow the plan from the Connecting Canada proposal, a new bridge will be constructed and allow us year-round mobility to points south.

I would urge our government to work with our aboriginal groups to develop a unique and joint strategy for Ottawa to show that the North can and will work together for everyone’s benefit. To date the lobbying efforts in Ottawa has been led largely by a Mackenzie Valley Aboriginal Corporation and the Denendeh Development Corporation.

The Mackenzie Valley Highway can bring real benefits to northern communities, helping them lower the cost of living, improve their access to other NWT communities and assist with economic development. I quote from our Connecting Canada Highway Proposal. “Connecting Canada is crucial to the socio-economic future of Canada.” For my constituents and I, the completion of this highway is an important project, a legacy that will span from one generation to the next. So, once again, I urge our government to take the lead on this project which everyone supports. Like Obama, Mr. Speaker, we must be leaders and inspire our people with hope and positive change. Mahsi cho.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to add my voice today to supporting the construction of an all-weather road down the Mackenzie Valley. I support the construction of the highway for many reasons. It will connect communities which will foster closer ties to families. It will undoubtedly lower the obscene cost of living in communities down the valley. It will create numerous jobs and economic activity at a time when we need it the most. It will give tourism in the Northwest Territories a solid shot in the arm. The road traffic will bring economic benefits to small communities along the route.

How can this highway get built, Mr. Speaker? It is going to take a partnership between the federal government, our territorial government and aboriginal governments in the MAC group to get this done.

The Prime Minister often states the importance of Arctic sovereignty, nation building and the importance of the NWT to the future of the Canadian economy. It is time the federal government stepped up to the plate. Our government has to lessen its shotgun approach to infrastructure. A bridge here, chipseal here, is not the approach we need right now to take to Canada. Yes, we have many infrastructure needs across this country, but we need to have focus and resolve in order to get the federal government to agree to such a large-scale infrastructure project.

I personally want to be actively involved in helping the MAC group, our government and the federal government to advance the construction of this highway. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank those people who live in the Mackenzie Valley communities for all of their patience, and also thank you to Cece McCauley and her group of Women

Warriors for all of their support and hard work in this initiative. Hopefully sooner rather than later this much needed roadway will become a reality for those residents down the Mackenzie Valley.

Mr. Speaker, our Prime Minister, Mr. Harper, and his government have an opportunity to go down in history as a government and a Prime Minister with a vision for the North and do their good for building this country of ours, Canada, to be all that it can be. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.