I am certainly pleased to hear from the Minister in terms of their plan to go ahead with the Deline realignment of the road project and certainly the people from Deline will be happy to hear that.
Another issue that I want to just touch on which Mr. Krutko, the MLA from the Delta, talked about is the bridging programs. Certainly one that we in the Sahtu are looking forward to, specifically in Norman Wells and the hamlet of Tulita was looking at the Bear River bridge. This somehow has become a challenge for this government and this department as to how you put together a package to make a project go of this size.
Certainly Mr. Krutko has given some discussion as to the bridge that he would like to see in the Mackenzie Delta. There are similar wishes of the people of the Sahtu to see a bridge at Bear River also happen. At the same time, you look at the challenges of Great Bear Lake where there is climate change and thinning of the ice, and I know that in future there is going to be discussion as to a bridge up on the Bear River further up to the mouth of Bear Lake in terms of that situation; to go back to the Bear River bridge in terms of seeing if there is any type of further funding to make this bridge a reality.
I want to ask the Minister the department’s plans in terms of constructing bridges along the Mackenzie River. He talked about 30 bridges. We certainly see the benefits of having these bridges now in the Mackenzie Valley and we certainly want to see the Bear River bridge be one that can be constructed or one that could be at least funded in the life of this government.