Certainly the Sahtu has, as Mr. Minister has indicated and listed off, quite an impressive list of projects, and rightly so; it should be. That is the type of attitude we want from this government in terms of the safety of the public. Not just in parts of the Northwest Territories, we also have to look in areas of the whole North where we need to have safety. The Minister himself drove on the winter road, he knows the amount of signs that should be up there, in terms of his inventory, and the Minister knows the conditions of our roads having once been called by myself a goat road and I hope we have moved up to a different level of standards in the Sahtu.
The Minister has also indicated the number of safety measures that could be put in the Sahtu. I look forward to them. I tell you that these roads could be dangerous as more and more people are travelling on these roads, more and more young drivers, and because our operators in the Sahtu have done such an excellent job in terms of maintaining our winter roads, some of our young drivers are going pretty fast on them. There are sharp corners, there are some big hills that need to be cut down, there are some areas that still need to be worked on, so I expect this government to live up to the standards of roads and ensure the safety of my people.
I have been on that winter road, I was in a vehicle, I did get hit by one of the big trucks on a narrow road. There are people on this road, they are my people, young children and old people, and so safety is something that is very important to us.
I wanted to ensure the Minister knows that putting these signs up means something. I am glad there is some work being done on it, no doubt about it. It is long past due and it is about time that some attention is being given to the Sahtu winter roads. I look forward to seeing what type of plans he has in terms of enhancing safety in the Sahtu region.
