Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to the Minister for his comments. Just following up on Mr. Ramsay’s comments, please get the bridge built on time and within budget. That would be fantastic.

There are some other things that I think are quite positive in here. I’m happy to see progress on the Mackenzie Valley Highway in any capacity. I think that’s great news. Moving forward, obviously, it would be great if as much as possible we can involve Northerners in any construction and planning that takes place. I know that there are different groups from different communities that are very eager to be involved and I would encourage the government to, as much as possible, get them involved.

One thing that I would like to see more of, obviously, is many of our roads aren’t sealed, they don’t have a topcoat on them throughout the Northwest Territories and I think we need to be putting some more planning and effort and time into figuring out how we can get our highways coated with some sort of substance, a chip coat or Easy

Street or something along those lines over the coming years. In particular, I think something like finishing the Deh Cho loop in a higher quality than it is, the road from Simpson to Liard is a little on the rough side. It would open up the North to significant tourism opportunities, which would be good for all regions in the Northwest Territories, in particular the Deh Cho by way of campers and other motor traffic coming up that way. Right now I believe the Liard Highway does scare some people off, which is really unfortunate because it is an incredibly beautiful highway, it’s an incredibly beautiful part of our Territory and it would be great if we had better roads in that area.

Just a couple comments. I see some good things happening here. I’d definitely like to see the bridge built on time, can’t wait to drive over it in November. That will be fantastic. I’m happy about the Mackenzie Highway and wish there was a little bit more planning and progress as far as developing the Deh Cho trail. Thank you, Mr. Chair.