Mr. Chair, I want to say that the department has been very good in working with our contractors. I also want to say to the Minister that the contractors are doing an excellent job in terms of maintaining our winter roads, working with whatever resources we have with them. Sometimes we feel that the budget for our contractors to do a proper maintenance routine schedule is sometimes...It could be increased. Certainly with what they are doing right now, I think they are doing an excellent job.

I think that the department has certainly seen a big increase in terms of our winter roads. I want to say that to the Minister and the staff who are working with our contractors on the winter road. I certainly want to see more creative, innovative solutions in terms of working with our winter roads. Certainly on straightening out the winter roads, clearing corners, cutting down some of the hills, there certainly could be some discussion.

Mr. Chair, the last point I want to bring to the Minister’s attention is the ongoing discussion...I have a file full here of letters between various Ministers on the Bear River Bridge in terms of go/no-go, go/no-go. I’m not too sure if the Minister could enlighten me in terms of this is one big bridge here that the people in the Sahtu were looking forward to. Certainly there were some factors that didn’t produce good results as to if we were going to have a bridge or not. The Minister has indicated to me that they are continuing to look for funding. I appreciate the department’s willingness to see if this is a possibility. In light of that, I encourage the Minister, I guess, to continue working with the Minister of Transportation and infrastructure of the federal department in regard to the economic stimulus plan that they have recently announced. There’s certainly money there that I’m not too sure if we fit. I recall that the Minister said that there are certain requirements and criteria that we don’t quite fit under the Northwest Territories, so I’m not too sure if he’s going to have any luck in terms of dipping into this economic stimulus plan in terms of bridge.

As Mr. Krutko has indicated through his willingness also for a Peel River Bridge, that there are also options out there that certainly I would be interested in seeing how we can go about building these bridges in the Northwest Territories. Certainly it has been in the books for a while, so I just wanted to, again, advocate for a bridge in my region. That will help greatly with the road transportation and the other activities that could possibly happen in the years coming down in terms of keeping the Sahtu open. Thank you.