Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I rise in support of this motion. The Mackenzie Valley Highway has been in the thoughts and dreams of many Northerners for decades; definitely since 1958 when the Prime Minister at the time, John Diefenbaker, and his Conservative government implemented his northern resource policies and coined the phrase Road to Resources. Yet today there still is no road.

In our motion we identified that the Mackenzie Valley Highway would provide opportunities to diversify the NWT’s economy through expanded renewable and non-renewable resource development and tourism opportunities. There are clearly resources, both renewable and non-renewable, throughout the Northwest Territories. Unfortunately, where they are located often determines how they can best be utilized. Many of our northern resources are a long way away from southern markets or even communities within the NWT themselves, which makes it incredibly difficult to justify the creation of secondary industries that

bring more jobs into the NWT. For the most part, any resources that are extracted from northern soil are exported south to be processed, as it has proven to be more economical to do so.

The Mackenzie Valley Highway will open up the Mackenzie Valley and increase our ability to access renewable and non-renewable resources. Further, it will ensure a reliable method of transportation to get NWT resources out of the NWT, but also make it more affordable for some forms of processing within the NWT as we’ll be able to get processing and secondary materials to remote locations with greater ease and regularity. Either way, it creates significant opportunities through easier access to resources. Suitable transportation infrastructure will encourage economic expansion, production, and highlight the northern resources as a reasonable alternative to other locations throughout the world.

In his report titled “The Mackenzie Valley Highway: Should it be Completed” Mr. Alan Windhorst said the report on Canada’s National Highway Policy, Infrastructure Canada 2004, notes that investing in highways can lead to improvement in productivity by reducing costs, securing inputs, and reaching markets. The Mackenzie Valley Highway extension will perform all three of these. I agree with his comments, however, as a note, recognizing the importance of economic opportunities that the Mackenzie Valley Highway offers does not suggest that I believe that we should blindly open ourselves to all development. As Northerners, we have a duty and responsibility to protect our land and resources. Any resource extraction and development must go through a thorough socio-economic, and environmental assessment to ensure that our best interests are maintained.

Also in our motion we identified that the Mackenzie Valley Highway would help lower the cost of living in northern communities and contribute to their sustainability. One of the priorities of the 16th Assembly is to reduce the cost of living to northern residents. Individuals living in small, remote communities with no all-season access clearly pay more than individuals on highway systems. Today winter roads are the only way for many communities to get resupplied in bulk. Construction materials and other large items can only be supplied and delivered in short blocks of time, specifically when the winter roads are open. In the future it’s safe to assume that this will become increasingly more difficult as winter road seasons get shorter and shorter due to global warming. To ensure that northern communities can survive, we need to ensure that we can get materials to them in a reliable and affordable way; specifically roads. The Mackenzie Valley Highway ensures that our remote communities have consistent access to southern markets, which will make the cost of

things like milk and fresh vegetables cheaper and increase their availability. This is a good thing.

Also in our motion it indicates that the Mackenzie Valley Highway would enhance Canada’s national security and emergency response, contributing to asserting Canada’s sovereignty over the Arctic. In Mr. Windhorst’s document he states that although it is not completed, the Mackenzie Valley extension would ascertain Canada’s sovereignty in the Arctic. These facts alone justify consideration for the addition of the Mackenzie Valley Highway.

Further, on October 17th , 2007, Prime Minister

Harper responded to the Speech from the Throne, supporting sovereignty and security. Within his speech he said, “For the federal government there is nothing more fundamental than the protection of this country’s sovereignty. Our most important potential sovereignty challenge today is our Arctic doorstep where retreating polar ice, rising global demand for resources, and the prospect of year-round shipping are creating new challenges and exciting opportunities for the North.” This is an important statement. It is clearly obvious to Northerners and it also highlights the importance of the North to the sovereignty of this country.

Mr. Harper went further to say, “Protecting and asserting our sovereignty in the Arctic and elsewhere requires real effort, sacrifice and expense.” I couldn’t agree more. The Mackenzie Valley Highway will cost, but in the end it’s the right thing to do for both the country and the Northwest Territories. Later in his speech, Prime Minister Harper went further and stated, “We have to use the North or we risk losing it. Half a century ago Prime Minister John Diefenbaker extolled his northern vision. He foresaw that Canada’s future development and prosperity would depend on an efficient transportation network linking northern resources to southern markets. Road to Resources, he called them. So he built, among others, our northern-most road, the 700 kilometre Dempster Highway from the Yukon to the Mackenzie River Delta. The opposition of the day has always dismissed such activities as unnecessary, fanciful and wasteful. History has always proven them wrong.” The Prime Minister of Canada is right. Now I encourage him to listen to his own words. Build the Mackenzie Valley Highway. It is not unnecessary, fanciful or wasteful.

The Government of the Northwest Territories has demonstrated commitment to this project. As outlined in my Member’s statement, this government prepared and submitted a funding proposal entitled Connecting Canada Coast to Coast to Coast in November 2005. It outlines the GNWT’s position and how the Mackenzie Valley Highway will enhance northern and Canadian security and sovereignty and improve the GNWT’s

ability to respond and adapt to changing climatic conditions. The highway will support the renewable and non-renewable industry, facilitate the diversification of the NWT economy and improve the quality of life of its citizens who will gain better access to essential services, increased mobility, and lowering the cost of living. These benefits will help us experience safer, healthier communities, which is consistent with the 16th Assembly’s

strategic vision.

Regardless of the significant benefits this highway will have for Northerners, it should be, and must be, a national project. It can and will benefit all Canadians. It will be part of a national highway system which links all three of our coasts, which is crucial to the socio-economic future of Canada. Building it will create significant economic stimulus in Canada and the Northwest Territories, which is good for all Canadians. At the end of the day we’ll have something permanent rather than temporary, as I fear many of the stimulus projects supported by the federal government will be.

I encourage Prime Minister Harper to listen to us today, to put some of his stimulus dollars into long-term Canadian projects; a project that will increase the employment across this country, employment opportunities for Canadians from every province and territory, a national project. Let’s connect Canada from coast to coast to coast. The federal government should advance the funding required and proceed with the planning and construction for the Mackenzie Valley Highway and make this project a priority as part of the Conservative government’s stimulus initiatives.

I support this motion. Cece McCauley has said it a thousand times, if not more: the Mackenzie Valley Highway is needed and now is the time.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At the outset I want to state that I am in support of this motion wholeheartedly. I mentioned in my Member’s statement that I feel that it’s the responsibility of the federal government to fund and look after new roads within the provinces and territories within our country. The GNWT is unable financially to fund a project the size of the Mackenzie Valley Highway on its own and we shouldn’t have to if the federal government their responsibility and they should.

There are a huge number of positive impacts for this particular project. The positive impacts for our communities for me, probably the foremost one, is that we should see a decrease in the cost of living and an increase in our general quality of life is what should occur. With costs of food, housing, gas,

home heating fuel, all those things going down, it can only be of benefit to all of our communities, particularly those who are now off the road network.

There will be an increased accessibility to services for residents of our communities. I think that’s going to be all communities.

And there will be an increase in the economic development projects that are available to these particular communities. Having a highway access is going to make it far easier for them to bring in materials.

There’s a positive impact for government, both the federal government and the territorial government. This particular project is large enough it’s going to create an economic stimulus within the NWT, but also within all of Canada. It’s not a project we can complete on our own. We certainly don’t have the manpower.

It’s going to be a benefit to the federal government in that it’s going to increase our claim to sovereignty over the Arctic, and that’s been mentioned already by Mr. Abernethy. As well, it’s going to increase the security of our country and the security of the northern part of our country. That’s a huge benefit to the federal government.

It’s a positive impact for businesses within the North and outside, as well, through the South. It’s going to be an increase in the access to resources for many businesses. I think it was Mr. Abernethy who mentioned exploration. I’m sorry, it was Mr. McLeod who mentioned exploration for mining and exploration for oil and gas. If we have a road going north it’s going to open up huge tracts of land within the NWT to exploration and to companies who want to start a business here. It’s been well known that many companies don’t come to the NWT to establish a business because of the huge costs that are involved because we don’t have infrastructure. They’ve said that out loud. Their costs are going to go down. It’s likely going to encourage them to come here.

I see a benefit for the Mackenzie Gas Project, should we ever get approval from the federal government to go ahead.

However, there are negative impacts of a project this size, as well, and Mr. Bromley spoke to many of those. It’s a huge project and it will bring a large influx of people into our Territory; people who are here temporarily, but people nonetheless who are going to have an impact on the communities close to the highway as it’s being built. We have to consider really carefully whether or not we want this project because of the negative impacts and what those negative impacts are going to be. We also have to plan to work around them.

Our communities are going to be affected socially by the numbers of peoples that are going to be around. The fact that they’re transient as opposed to being permanent residents often makes it more difficult to deal with them.

There’s going to be an increase in greenhouse gas production because of this particular project. Any construction project is going to add to that. So we need to weigh one against the other. Is the negative impact going to outweigh the positive? In my mind it does, but we still have to look at it.

It’s going to have an impact on the environment. We can’t carve a strip from Wrigley to the Arctic Ocean without looking at the impact it’s going to have on our environment. It’s going through our lands. We need to consider the effect it’s going to have on all of these lands as it goes through. My feeling is we can’t have construction at any cost. We need to weigh one against the other.

This project has long been ignored by the federal government in spite of all the overtures that the GNWT has put forward to the feds to try to get them to come to the table. We’ve made requests for assistance, we’ve made proposals to try to partner, and they are, so far, studiously ignoring us. This project should be a priority for the federal government on so many levels and in so many quarters that it’s hard to mention them all. It needs to be a priority for them now and it’s a project which must be started now; not now, but right now. I think we’ve waited 50 years for this project to be finished. That’s way too long. As I said the other day on another project, let’s get started.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’m glad I have an opportunity to speak to this motion generated by all the Members. We share the same interest of building our Mackenzie Valley Highway and completing it right up to Tuktoyaktuk. The time is right now that we take initiative and jump on the federal government to say, look, this is something that our North wants.

I think the key thing that I mentioned in my Member’s statement was that we have to develop a joint strategy. I know that the Mackenzie Valley Aboriginal Corporation is doing their lobbying. I know that the Minister is doing his share as well. But I believe that what Ottawa likes to see is a combined effort, that we’re at the door at the same time, lobbying them. This means that we’re unified in what we want and I believe that’s important. I urge the Minister and our government to take the lead in this, sit down with the MAC group, develop a joint strategy for going to Ottawa and talking to the Minister of Transportation, to the infrastructure

Ministers, to get support from our Member of Parliament, and some of the opposition parties as well. All these are key in Ottawa. They operate much like us. The Ministers have to be lobbied from all sectors to show that there is support; not only unified support from the North but also that we’ve done our legwork in Ottawa. All that has to be done soon, because ever since the federal government announced their infrastructure plan for Ottawa they’ve gotten many, many infrastructure projects being lobbied and bandied about. Many of them are probably further advanced than ours. So they’re there and knocking at the doors. In fact, I think Minister Flaherty was in the news the other day saying how are we going to get this money out when there’s so many challenges, so many projects out there. I think our key thing is we have to get ours on that book too. Just how to develop that.

The important thing, too, if I can get specific to when that highway was first constructed in the ‘70s, was that it was created through a federal initiative. But the whole thing about it was that we created a project called Hire North. It was about hiring Northerners, getting as many Northerners involved in that project. It was about training them. In fact, what happened was we trained a whole generation of heavy equipment operators. We provided, at that time, the stimulus for aboriginals to become business owners and a whole skilled force that was around for the construction industry. In fact, after the project was completed it benefited many other northern projects throughout the North, that Hire North project. We still feel the benefits from those people who learned and trained from that Hire North project. But it’s time for another generation to step forward and do that again. It’s time for the federal government to step forward and provide us those resources to train our people, to provide a whole level of stimulus and a whole level of new workforce. The investment in jobs, put money in our people’s projects, and it’s also investment into the North.

As well as the federal government, one of their big projects that’s been at their door for many, many years, of course, is the Mackenzie Valley Gas Pipeline project. Everybody up North here has always told any federal Member of Parliament or any federal Minister that the cheapest way, the best way to provide a stimulus package to the Mackenzie Valley Gas Pipeline project is to build a road. And here we are at the juncture. I believe that. I always say the point of power is in the moment. Now is the time to act. We have to sell this point, that here’s another way that if you’re indeed interested in the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline, provide us the resources and the guarantee that we can fast track this Mackenzie Valley Highway project.

I concur with Mr. Abernethy that it’s not only an NWT project, it’s a national project. It will take joint

effort. I believe we can get it done. It’s important to all Canadians. I think in my Member’s statement, as well, I mentioned that the road will begin from Simpson and developing a bridge is very important and I believe that starting at the Liard River Bridge is equally important to this strategy. In fact, I think I mentioned it last week in a Member’s statement that we have to start doing some baseline work around bridges and provide at least a bird’s eye view of how much they’re going to cost. I think I mentioned a class D estimate. I believe we can come up with the resources to do that in our next business planning cycle or capital planning cycle. At least provide some of those resources to get that baseline work done so we know where we stand. It will probably also be part of redoing our Connecting Canada proposal as well. I’m not too sure if the Minister has looked at that yet, but it’s indeed a lot of work that went into Connecting Canada. It’s a well-thought-out, well-planned package, and I believe that the ministry is going to have to sit down, redo it, provide a nice package that we can present to Ottawa. In fact, in this case it will probably have to be a joint effort working with the Mackenzie Valley group, because they’ve got their own engineering estimates. They’ve got a lot of the background work done. In fact, they’ve already got agreements, as well, with a lot of the regional corporations and regional groups throughout the valley.

Just in closing, it’s a very good package, a very good motion. I urge our government to move forward with it as quickly as we can. Like I said, there are many infrastructure projects from across Canada that have been bandied about in Ottawa and we have to get our foot in the door. Just showing a united front, that it’s something that all Northerners support, that all aboriginal groups support in the North and we, as a government, support will go a long ways in opening up eyes in Ottawa.

There is no better way to stimulate our economy by a huge infrastructure like this. It will employ people. It will create training. That is one of our roles in government. I believe this fits it to a tee. With that, Mr. Speaker, I will be supporting this motion and thank Members for providing such a worthwhile motion. Mahsi cho.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. To the motion. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Robert McLeod.

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.

---Laughter

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.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. To the motion. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to speak in support of the motion. I think the motion was very well composed and worded and it was a joint effort between the Cabinet and the Regular Members, the composition of this motion. I think it really covers all the bases. I think that there is very little that can actually be added to the motion. I think that this project is a natural. It fits the times. It fits the aspirations of the federal government in terms of sovereignty. I think that any potential negative impacts can be managed.

Mr. Speaker, it is fine for us all here to pass a motion, speak to it, say what a great idea it is, but how are we going to get the attention of Ottawa on this matter? Now we go down to Ottawa in all

different kinds of approaches to the North and the things that we want to see done. There is also a novel idea out there to the government. We are all busy here doing stuff. Maybe we shouldn’t send any of the Cabinet Ministers down to Ottawa. Maybe we should hire Cece McCauley, put her on contract, get her to get some other women together, send her down to Ottawa with some very powerful outspoken women from the Northwest Territories and maybe we will get some results. It is just an idea. I don’t know how we can do any worse than what we generally come home with. No insult to our friends across the floor, but perhaps Cece could torment them. Maybe when we name a battleship after somebody, it won’t be Stephen Harper. Maybe we will name a battleship after Cece McCauley. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. To the motion. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I will be supporting the motion. I am really pleased to see it come this far in regards to all 19 Members working together. In my riding in Nunakput, this will directly affect it and help the cost of living. Maybe, you know, quality of life will pick up and maybe we wouldn’t have to struggle so much for the food for our families, fuel to heat our homes and gasoline to go hunt caribou. If those prices dropped, I think there would be a lot more ease to the people in my riding.

Jobs from the project would be well utilized from Northerners. I know there is a lot more skilled labour up in the Beaufort-Delta and the Territory, and then the Beau-Del in the Sahtu will be connected to the capital. Right now the Beaufort-Delta is connected to Whitehorse, Yukon. That is where we do all of our shopping. That will change. I always say Nunakput has all the oil and gas. Now we will be able to tap into that resource. Norman, you have gas too.

---Laughter

The upside to that, we are going to open up the Western Arctic for a deep sea port. That is going to bring the cost of food and everything right down. Our sovereignty issues, you know the rangers will have backup then. Right now we have to get them flown in. They will be able to drive in. Rangers are such an important program up in the Beaufort-Delta and the Northwest Territories. It is good to have them.

If we want to go out on a holiday, we would be able to drive out, not fly when you pay almost $1,000 a ticket. I have nine kids. That is almost half a year’s wage.

---Laughter

I am trying to bring this into reality for everybody. My family is big. Then we could always say it is not sea to sea to river, it is sea to sea to sea.

Mr. Speaker, I helped Mr. Abernethy again in his statement so I ran out of stuff, so thank you and I am supporting the motion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. To the motion. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. There’s not really a whole lot to add to what all that has been said in the House here today on the Mackenzie Valley Highway.

I’ll just make a couple of comments on the statement by Minister Michael McLeod saying 3 percent of the people of the Northwest Territories have no access, winter or otherwise, at all from the highway. That includes Lutselk’e.

I know that the benefits from this Mackenzie Valley Highway are tremendous. I know for Tu Nedhe it is employment for the guys out of Fort Resolution that are heavy equipment operators, the guys out of Lutselk’e that are heavy equipment operators and so on.

I think one of the key things is that when the government is able to build a highway through communities and effectively lower the cost of living in those communities, then we are able to make a concentrated effort on the communities that do have a high cost of living that have no highway access at all, like winter road access like Lutselk’e. I think, when you take an issue and you concentrate it down on the very worst of it, then the communities that have no winter road or an all-weather highway access like Lutselk’e, Ulukhaktok, Paulatuk and Sachs Harbour in Mr. Jacobson’s riding, then I think we are able to then make better progress. Right now, the issue is so spread out that it is difficult to try to get right down to concentrating on which areas of cost of living we are going to address.

As I mentioned in my Member’s statement, the impacts and benefit of tourism, I think that is probably bigger than even the actual construction. There will be a tremendous amount of business and, regionally, the spinoffs from the construction of this highway, not only the operators but the businesspeople and everything that it takes to have that many people working in the Northwest Territories, there are tremendous economic spinoffs from that. Once that is completed, I think the fact that you are able to have communities that are connected, you have a good loop for tourists and so on. I think those tourists that come up do leave

money behind in the Northwest Territories and that is the idea. That is a reason they come. I think that is another thing that is going to be very positive if this Mackenzie Valley Highway was to be built, elimination of isolation.

I know there are issues sometimes with some elders that don’t want to see an all-season road because of the social impacts and so on. That happened in the past. There are communities that stop the highway from going right through their community because of the fear of social impacts that accompany an all-season highway. I think those were the times then.

I think today we have dealt with a lot of those types of impacts. We have dealt with it certainly when the diamond industry has come into the Northwest Territories and a lot of money that has come to Yellowknife and surrounding communities. We have had to deal with the social impacts of that, socio-economic impacts. I think that if we are cautious and we work with the communities and so on, that we can deal with those things.

I think when you put people on the highway, you do make them independent a little bit. You are relieving the dependency on the government. You are allowing people to get out, to travel. And if it is travel for employment, it is a lot easier to put your family in a vehicle and travel somewhere. If you are travelling on holidays, it is cheaper and so on. I think those will benefit.

Like I indicated in my Member’s statement, I do believe that there will be a reduction in the reliance of social programs in that community. Going back to what I just said earlier, once you have less people relying on something, then it is a lot easier for the government to concentrate on the people that are still on the social programs and so on, and easier to work with them and a smaller group and, for sure, more progress will be made.

I support the Mackenzie Valley Highway definitely. I think it has a lot more benefits I think than what we have come up with here today. I think we will recognize that and will see that when the time comes when the highway is built. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. To the motion. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am obviously going to speak in favour of the motion that is before us today, for a variety of reasons. I just wanted to start out by thanking Cabinet. This is a joint initiative, a joint effort on behalf of the government as a whole. I appreciate their efforts. It was very nice hearing my colleague, Mr. McLeod,

and the passion in his voice. I am glad to hear that again, Mr. Speaker.

I want to start out with the cost of living. The cost of living is something that many Members, especially Members from small communities, talk about, and communities located in the Mackenzie Valley. They need some reprieve from these outrageous high costs of goods. They need more surety in the movement of goods. Mr. Jacobson spoke of the quality of life that this would add to residents in those communities. I couldn’t support that any more than supporting this motion today is one step in that, Mr. Speaker, but it is a big issue and something that we need to address.

Also, the fact that it leads to mobility for our residents, brings communities closer together. Many of the communities located in the Mackenzie Valley share many family ties. It would be much easier to get in your truck or vehicle and drive to the closest community to visit your family and friends. That is something I think that isn’t lost on me. I think that is a big aspect of this in bringing communities closer together.

Some Members have already spoken about tourism. A bit of my background is in tourism. Believe me, if you had a newly constructed Mackenzie Valley Highway, people from around the world would want to drive on it. They would want to stay in communities. They would want to stay in parks, in campgrounds. It would certainly add to the economic development activity in smaller communities, looking at gas stations, restaurants, parks, hotels and other service related businesses.

Also, Minister Michael McLeod spoke to the aspect of exploration and development in mining and oil and gas. That is something that we shouldn’t overlook, especially at the price. It is between 1.5 and 2 billion dollars of construction costs. That would mean work for Northerners. That would mean training opportunities and development of our workforce, especially when times are tough and the economy is slumping. I think it is a perfect opportunity now more than ever to take a look at how we can get this highway constructed.

Mr. Speaker, I believe we need a unified approach. We need to understand that there are numerous infrastructure needs across our Territory but, from my time here, Mr. Speaker, what I see oftentimes is we go forward with smaller projects. I am not saying we don’t need those projects. Yes, we do. They are important but I think what we have to do in terms of trying to get this highway built, and I try to put myself in the shoes of the federal government. If I am the federal government or the Prime Minister, I want to look at something that I can put my name on, I could support wholeheartedly. It is a project, like I said earlier, a nation building project, a legacy

project, something that is going to develop this country. Many politicians in this country have used that quote ‘from coast to coast to coast” and we can finally get that highway down the Mackenzie Valley and into Tuktoyaktuk and finally we’ll have a highway system in this country from coast to coast to coast. I think it’s a project of this magnitude that the federal government is looking to put its stamp on. I firmly believe that the federal government is interested in this project. I know the government has helped us get this motion here today. We need to focus. We need to work as a unified northern people here. We need to go to Ottawa with one voice. We have to come up with a plan on how the highway is going to get built, what the involvement of our government is going to be, what the involvement of the federal government is going to be and our partner, the MAC group, as well. These are some of the things, Mr. Speaker, that are important. I’d like to see that move forward.

Certainly we need to also...I know the Premier has come to us recently with a plan to up the stakes in Ottawa. You know, to get our message out, to ramp things up there. I support the Premier 100 percent in that. I support Cabinet in what they’re trying to do in Ottawa, but what we’ve been doing to date, Mr. Speaker, just hasn’t been effective. Like I said, we need to step things up a bit. I’m glad the Premier has come forward with some suggestions on how to do that. I support that wholeheartedly. I think we need to keep our eye on the big prize, Mr. Speaker, and that big prize is the Mackenzie Valley Highway. Now, more than ever, I think we have to support the construction of this highway. Again, it has to be everybody pulling in the same direction in order for it to happen.

Again, I appreciate all of the comments that have come from all the Members and look forward to the others that are coming along. I certainly will be supporting the motion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. To the motion. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, will be supporting the motion. I, for one, feel that this project is long overdue. I think as a government we have to make this project a top priority of the 16th Assembly. We have to send the

message loud and clear to Ottawa that it is a top priority and that we need federal investment for this major project.

Mr. Speaker, this highway was serving back in the ‘70s. Even during our land claims negotiation talks this highway was withdrawn from those negotiations to allow for the right-of-way of the Mackenzie Highway to stay intact and that those

agreements clearly defined that right-of-way for the Mackenzie Highway.

Mr. Speaker, this is going to be one of the biggest capital projects for the Government of the Northwest Territories in history. We’re looking at somewhere in the range of $1.8 billion to possibly $2 billion at the end of the day. Mr. Speaker, no other project was bigger than that except for the Mackenzie pipeline, which is $16 billion. Again, Mr. Speaker, there are ways of economy of scale by doing this jointly along with the Mackenzie Highway pipeline construction and the highway construction which can reduce the cost.

Mr. Speaker, more importantly, we can start this work tomorrow by way of working on this project from the north, from the south, between the communities up and down the valley and making those connections where we’ve started with the bridge projects and now just start joining the points along the way.

Mr. Speaker, this will stimulate the economy of the Northwest Territories. Especially now with the downturn of what we’re seeing in the oil and gas industry, the mining industry, this is a perfect time for the Government of the Northwest Territories to get the message to Ottawa that this investment will only improve the economy of Canada and it will also benefit all Canadians. Mr. Speaker, there are opportunities by way of job training. People have been able to work within these construction camps and develop the infrastructure that’s going to be needed to construct future developments.

Mr. Speaker, earlier on in my Member’s statement I touched on what it costs to drill one well in the Mackenzie Valley. It’s $30 million to drill one well. In Alberta, somewhere in the range of $300,000. I think that’s the challenge that people that do invest in the North to develop the industry in regard to oil and gas and mining, the bottom line is what will it cost us. I think with a highway it will reduce those costs, it will bring certainty by way of knowing what those costs actually are and, more importantly, deal with the economic challenges we’re facing in the North with the high costs of putting in winter roads, the high costs of maintaining ice crossings and the high costs in regard to opening up resource rich areas because of logistical challenges where we’re seeing more and more winter roads with shorter seasons.

Mr. Speaker, I think it’s important that we as government send the message loud and clear to Ottawa and ensure that we do make the investment, but also, more importantly, show that that investment has to be there for the well-being of all Northerners and Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that working together with the Mackenzie Aboriginal Corporation and this government should be jointly going to Ottawa rather than individually. I think that’s half the problem, is that we’re not speaking from the same page.

Mr. Speaker, today there are ways of building infrastructure in Canada and it’s called P3s. Mr. Speaker, I was surprised to see on our trip to Manitoba a couple of months ago in regard to checking out the hydro industry, an aboriginal company built a road 50 kilometres for $20 million. I was very much impressed with the workmanship of the aboriginal communities but, more importantly, that the provinces have basically bought on to allow these aboriginal corporations to build infrastructure in the different provinces. I think that’s something that we have to do in the Northwest Territories by way of supporting that idea and finding ways to finance this project. Yes, it is a major capital expenditure, but I believe that if we extend it over 50 years or even 60 years, you are able to pay down this capital expense knowing that it will give you year-round access to communities and if the movement of goods and services and people.

Mr. Speaker, I think it’s important to realize that this will not only stimulate our communities, it will stimulate our other economies from tourism, in regard to oil and gas, our renewable and non-renewable sectors. I think that we do have to be able to make this capital investment now knowing that the time is right, the efforts are there, and with the Mackenzie Aboriginal Corporation and this government working jointly together lobbying Ottawa to move this project. If not, let’s find a way to finance it internally by other investors. Like I mentioned, this is an aboriginal partnership from the Deh Cho to the Sahtu to the Gwich’in to the IRC regions, and I believe they are willing to find the capital that’s needed to build this. I think we do have to move on that, so I will be supporting the motion, Mr. Speaker. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I recognize the critical need to connect our communities and I support the Mackenzie Highway as a possible solution, as I mentioned in my statement earlier. I’d like to pose these hard questions I suggested earlier and also basically to ensure that they are posed and to make sure that they’re fully addressed.

The first question I asked was are the reduced costs of living for communities newly connected by highway real? For example, if we look at milk costs in communities being reduced by perhaps 50 percent as a result of a highway, we need to recognize that a milk subsidy to bring community

prices in all of the NWT to those of Yellowknife is estimated at $1.3 million. We need to then contrast this to a $2 billion project with a $35 million annual maintenance fee. In other words, we can’t be robbing Peter to pay Paul. We can’t take one step forward and two steps back. We need to seek real reductions in costs. This question is meant to crystallize the economics of the project and make sure that we are making real reductions. What are real reductions? To me I see them as local economic development that actually benefits local economies through employment of people and the skills they represent locally and using products locally and so on. How will this project ensure that that develops?

Secondly, what are the potential risks and benefits to social health such as increased addictions? I mentioned that some communities, a number of communities have expressed serious concerns about the potential for increased rates of addictions and the associated challenges there. We’ll need to be planning the dollars and strategies to be sure that they’re in place and that we know how to respond to these concerns.

Another question: Will the highway reduce greenhouse gas emissions? In here, the Northwest Territories is about double the average North American per capita emissions of greenhouses gases. We’re many times that of the world average. We have an obligation to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. We know, of course, that our costs are escalating as a result of climate change, so the need is obvious there. We enjoy a very high standard of living compared to the rest of the world. Are we fully prepared to meet the challenges that this represents? The challenges of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in light of a project like this, in light of an additional 700 or 800 kilometres of highway and the likely increases in greenhouse gases that could entail without thinking and planning ahead of time to deal with them.

What sort of development will a highway enable in relation, again, to the needs of small communities that we’re talking about connecting here? About 2,600 to 3,600 people will be connected to communities by this project, to highways. What are the alternatives? The major motivation here is connecting our communities. I mentioned airships. Rail is something else that could be considered. Are there other options that will meet all of our objectives, including the real reductions in cost, improved connections of our communities and that’s useful to economic development?

Mr. Speaker, what will the real costs of the highway be? My impression of the current estimate of $1.8 billion is that it’s very preliminary and I don’t know whether it considers the challenges of climate change, the increasing challenges, and the almost

certain rapid rise in fuel costs that will be associated with an economic recovery. Maintenance, for sure, has a proven track record with a relatively modest amount of impact to the climate change we already have of being grossly underestimated on an annual basis. What will the impacts be when the real impacts of climate change start accruing within the next five years to a decade?

We must also recognize that there are different perspectives and concerns amongst communities about the Mackenzie Highway project, as evidenced last week at discussions of the Dene leadership meeting. I’m not saying here that there’s opposition to this project, but four leaders abstained in the vote for it and wanted to, I believe, wish to return to their communities to talk to their people about it and how to address the concerns that they might have. We need a responsible way of acknowledging that there are needs and concerns out there, to identifying those and to ensuring that they’re addressed and all legitimate concerns are taken care of.

A number of people have mentioned tourism and I would fully expect that the circle route, finally a true circle route, would increase the likelihood of tourism along our highways. This is potentially a positive thing. Of course, with it are the additional costs of servicing that industry in a very high-cost environment. What are economic benefits from tourism now relative to the costs? And let’s have some real analysis there.

My colleague Mr. Menicoche made reference to President Obama and what his approach would be. I think that would be an interesting exercise worthy of exploration. How would he approach a project like this to ensure that there are full benefits realized and costs minimized?

I’d like to also acknowledge that the Minister of Transportation mentioned that there’s already $2 million of work planned over the next two years to look at the socio-environmental concerns that the project poses, so I’m very happy to see that we’re already being progressive on that front.

Mr. Speaker, the biggest thing to me will be connecting our communities. But a second major contribution will be as a huge subsidy to economic development through increased and seemingly cheaper access. This requires the capacity of our government and a commitment to manage this induced development. Now, I’d also welcome a real economic analysis, given the cost of the project. It’s unlikely that this project will occur in time to be an economic stimulus in this recession as others have hoped. Particularly, of course, if our Governor Mark Carney is at all correct in when the recovery will take place. However, with work being done by

northern businesses and employees, I’m very hopeful that economic benefits would be considerable and would accrue to our northern communities.

Finally, Mr. Chair, we clearly need to connect our communities in ways that serve us better. In the old way of thinking, the Mackenzie Highway is obviously a good project. However, given our challenges today, and particularly the increasing and looming impacts of climate change, I would welcome a critical approach to evaluating this project against alternatives. We need a better understanding of what is economically and socially and environmentally sustainable here. Assuming the positive outcome of a full assessment such as this, I will be supporting this motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think it’s important to advance these types of projects, and certainly the Mackenzie Valley Highway would benefit the North and would certainly make a significant number of opportunities feasible. In Canada there’s a history of projects that have been built to open up different regions of the country and I see no reason why this couldn’t happen here in the Northwest Territories as well.

This morning I mentioned in my Minister’s statement that the Minister’s Advisory Panel met and we talked about a number of issues, economic and otherwise, and one of the questions I posed to the panel members was what were the top issues for the Northwest Territories. One of the top issues that the Members agreed upon was the importance of a Mackenzie Valley Highway, so I thought it was very timely to have this motion brought forward. They also talked about what do we have to do to get Ottawa’s attention. There have been a number of attempts to do...We had a Business Advisory Council and we all packed up and went to Ottawa on many occasions. I think it became very apparent that in order to make any progress we had to have a very focused message, we had to be very strategic and I think that this will have to occur again.

As far as the benefits of building a Mackenzie Valley Highway, I go back to growing up in Fort Providence. I remember my older brother worked on the Mackenzie Highway which opened up Fort Providence, Behchoko, Yellowknife, and certainly we benefited from the highway. I remember groups of workers from Fort Providence going off to work on Hire North projects for many years, and as the Member from Nahendeh indicated, they developed

a lot of capacity and skills and I expect the same thing would happen on a Mackenzie Highway.

I think all of the Members talked about the benefits from the highway. Tourism, obviously, will benefit. I know the tourists that come up here say they don’t like travelling the same road twice, not only in coming up to Yellowknife but also going up to Inuvik. Certainly it would increase the number of visitors. I mentioned oil and gas. Several Members have talked about how expensive it is to drill or develop any oil and gas opportunities. Certainly a highway would reduce the cost. Of course, the cost of living. Another area is there are a significant number of businesses that have invested heavily in equipment and certainly if we could find a way to even start taking bite-size portions to start building the highway sooner rather than later, that could benefit some of the local businesses and entrepreneurs.

I also lived in Norman Wells for a couple years so I’m familiar with the isolation that some of the Members talked about when the only way you could get in is by plane and there’s no other way. Certainly if you can drive, that would certainly improve the attractiveness of the communities.

I’ve had a number of meetings with MAC, the Mackenzie Aboriginal Corporation, and they have undertaken work on their own whereby they did an analysis of the cost of not constructing the Mackenzie Valley Highway. How much would it cost? How much money are we losing by not having the Mackenzie Valley Highway? So they’ve concluded a study. I don’t have the study here and I don’t have the information, but I know that every year the longer we wait it’s costing money. So I’ll be supporting the motion.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is an opportunity for Cabinet, since it’s a free vote today, to stand and speak on an issue and say what may be on our minds. I want to talk about roads today.

I look around this Legislature and my count is there’s 14 MLAs that have constituencies that are all hooked up by roads. I would suggest that if any of us 14 were not hooked up by roads we would be absolutely as passionate about having that kind of transportation as our colleagues are that have to suffer on winter roads or, as Mr. Yakeleya has said over the years, goat trails through the Sahtu.

Since the very beginning of time and since man stood upright and started living together there’s two things that have linked us or allowed us to link

together. That’s waterways and initially trails, that once we invented the wheel we developed roads. In the Northwest Territories we’ve used the waterways for thousands of years. But we’re an evolving jurisdiction and we have a significant portion of our jurisdiction that doesn’t have the access of basic roads.

I think, like all my colleagues in this House, it is now time for us to push to get this done. As we look at the North West Passage and, as my colleague Mr. Bromley indicated, the climate change, there are things happening in the Far North. For better or for worse they are happening. An ice-free North West Passage. If we’re looking at the North West Passage becoming a shipping route, the issue of deep-water ports, we need more than ever to be prepared to take advantage of the opportunities that are there in an environmentally responsible way, to be sure, but we are in need and we want to anticipate the future. The road is important.

We also, hopefully, will have a major project, if it proves out. We have qualified support for the pipeline. I know the two aren’t necessarily inextricably linked, but they are both going up the valley, they are both going the same way. We want to be as prepared as possible in all ways to take advantage of what the future may hold for us.

I don’t see this as a huge subsidy. If we did everything we do in the North, including in Yellowknife, would be seen as a subsidy. I see this as a huge investment, an investment in the future, an investment in our children and our grandchildren and giving them opportunities that we don’t currently have up the valley.

I am in support of this motion and I think it’s going to be high time that we get it done.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.