Thank you. I’m speaking in favour of this commitment that we’re making to ensure that the northernmost part of the Northwest Territories realizes some opportunities of ensuring that overall a development of the Mackenzie Highway is completed. I support this initiative to ensure that a major infrastructure project of that nature is realized, that it be linked to the overall development of the Mackenzie Valley Highway.
I realize the significance of the $2.5 million that’s been committed. Also at the same time I realize that it’s part of our duty as government to ensure that we do share costs of infrastructure development in parts of the Northwest Territories that are not on the mainstream highway system or as part of the mainstream link of the communications infrastructure. So this I think is going to help out people in the northernmost part of the Northwest Territories in terms of lessening the cost of living and for those reasons I support that.
Yet, at the same time, I think my colleagues on this side of this House have expressed some of their concerns in terms of the financial details lacking on how it is on the business case analysis in terms of the amount of revenue that they’re going to bring into this project in terms of the management and the expenditures are going to ensure that it’s done efficiently at the same time within a set budget. So I think those concerns were expressed by my colleagues. For the most part I think this project
should be realized, but we can’t lose sight of the needs of the constituents that I represent. I know this project should not compromise the needs of my constituents of the Hay River Reserve, Enterprise, Fort Providence and Kakisa. I think their needs are equally as real as the needs of the people in the northernmost part of the Northwest Territories. But for the most part I support this initiative.