Mr. Speaker, of all the Member’s statements that I have done in this House, one that I always remember was brought to my attention when I was down in Tuk just before Christmas. This little lady came up to me and said, I really like your ‘I have a dream’ speech. That is when I stood up and said that I have a dream and
that dream is the Mackenzie Valley Highway. It is something that I am glad to see the motion come forward. I think we have had another one before but this is one where I think it is, especially in this day and age, badly needed.
I am not sure what more we have to say on this issue. They have heard us. Some of us have even voted Conservative, so I am not sure why they are not listening.
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They spoke about Arctic sovereignty. They went up to Inuvik to make this announcement and it was a much anticipated announcement. We find out that they are naming a boat after a man who had a dream, and that dream was the first part of the Mackenzie Valley Highway. I am just hoping 50 years from now we can gather in Inuvik and we can say that we are going to name a battleship after Stephen Harper because he went to war for us on this highway which he truly believed in. I am hoping to see that in 50 years and not name a rowboat or something after him.
Mr. Speaker, we have an opportunity here. We have a huge opportunity. This could be the start of something very good to hopefully speak to Ottawa in a unified voice. Because I think up here in the Northwest Territories it is the only way we are going to be able to get any big amounts of money, is if we go down there with a unified voice that applies to the Mackenzie Valley Highway. We can’t be all just down there doing our own thing. This would also apply to devolution talks. If we are able to get on the same page and go down there and speak to them as a unified voice, I think we would go a long way into moving our issues forward.
I think sometimes they just kind of stand back and let us have at it and just continue to carve off the Northwest Territories as they see fit. I think it is time and this could be the start of something where we stand up and say enough is enough. We will all get on the same page and sing from the same songbook, get down there and hopefully get some items done.
They talk about Arctic sovereignty a lot. I was just thinking of the U.S. back in the Second World War when they felt that their land was going to be threatened. They didn’t just talk about it for 20 years. They just went in, bang, they built a road. That legacy project is still there today. But they didn’t just talk about it, Mr. Speaker, they acted on it.
This is a project that I think will have…You hear some of the negative comments. Everything we do, there is going to be some negative impact, but we have to do what we can to mitigate that.
This is something I see that would be of great benefit to people across the Northwest Territories. We have in every community along the way, Mr. Speaker, people that have equipment. There are people that know how to operate the equipment. I think, in one of the Members’ statements before, they spoke about how this may reduce the cost on the social programs part of it, reduce the cost on social housing. I have always been a firm believer that a lot of people out there, Mr. Speaker, will want to go out and get an honest day’s dollar for an honest day’s work. This is something I think they would be able to go out, take some pride in being able to contribute to something. We have enough people in the Northwest Territories, I believe, without having to bring in 75 percent of the workforce to be able to do this work. If it is one thing that people in the Northwest Territories are good at, it is operating equipment, because we have been doing it for a long time. Every community has contractors in that community who would be able to benefit and if there are more than two or three in each community, then they can partner up.
This is something that I see would be just a great benefit, Mr. Speaker, and I am glad to see that this motion is being brought forward again. There is just so much I can say and so much I would like to say, but at the end of the day, I think the people in Ottawa have to be listening. They realize that this is a project and, as somebody said, not just benefiting the Northwest Territories but it is benefiting a lot of Canada too, a lot in Alberta. A lot of the equipment and the stuff we get up here, we are going to have to get from somewhere because we don’t make it ourselves. It is going to have to come from somewhere. I would be pleased to support this motion. I thank the Members on the other side for bringing it forward and I will add my voice to it. Thank you.