Mr. Chairman, I hear the Member’s request for us to keep moving forward on the Highway No. 7 portion of the Deh Cho loop. We have all intentions of doing that. We are hoping to have all our engineering requirements that would give us a better ability to develop a long-term strategic plan for improvements on the road. We also, as part of the Deh Cho loop have done quite a bit of work on Highway No. 1 in terms of upgrading, reconstruction and also chipsealing. We’d like to continue that and that would really enhance a good part of what’s considered the Deh Cho loop.
We are also working in the area of the Tlicho region and the focus has been to realign the winter road in that area. Right now the road is constructed mainly on the lakes and a lot of river crossings, and it’s our desire to move the winter road onto land rather than water. We have set up a steering committee with the Tlicho communities, the leaders. We had all intentions to be a lot further than we were. However, during the last government there was a
request for us to stop all work that was being considered for the Tlicho winter roads, and we did oblige the government-of-the-day and have since had everybody back in the room and had some good discussions on moving forward and we have not engaged our study process and that’s now being done. That, again, will be used for consideration as we decide what investment will be made and how much money we’re going to require. Thank you.