Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was reading a book. I read in the book there is a quote here that says, “Give me a lever and a place to stand and I will move the world,” so said Archimedes. Mr. Speaker, I was looking at this quote here. I was wondering about this quote here. I want to talk somewhat on the Mackenzie Valley Highway construction. I was having some of the thoughts last night and certainly had been dreaming about roads last night and looking at the future where the people can give the world an opportunity to look at how we can build the Mackenzie Valley Highway from a Sahtu point of view.

I looked at the solutions in the Sahtu, and as the Member spoke about, some of our community

members are very skilled in labour in terms of operating equipment, in terms of designs and in terms of work. I want to ask the Minister later on today in terms of his creativity and his challenges and to come to our region, come to the Sahtu communities and talk about the options, the opportunities, how they can build a Mackenzie Valley Highway through a community approach, through a regional approach.

The Mackenzie Valley Highway will pass through the Sahtu. About 80 percent of the land mass will be taken in the Sahtu and the numbers that I’ve reviewed are from the departments of Transportation and Public Works, and certainly these have to be updated in terms of knowing what the reality of the costs are going to be today. For example, when I read the report, the Bear River Bridge was $12 million. Now, today, this bridge is considered around $50 to $60 million. I would ask the Minister if he would be willing to look at other programs and services that this department has in terms of looking at community approaches in terms of long-term economic stimulus in terms of having the people gain some capacity, gain some skills and start building the Mackenzie Valley Highway as it’s been duly noted by some other programs within this department such as the Tuk-Inuvik winter access road. That’s a start there, but there are other areas that we certainly could look at in due time.

Mr. Speaker, I think it’s time now that you can get the resources and come to the Sahtu and talk to the good people in the Sahtu as to how to build a real road down the Mackenzie Valley. Thank you.