Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The motion here that’s brought to the table to delete from Transportation puts the project in jeopardy. The timing is not great. The work that needs to get done for this year and next year to help us to continue this major… This is a major milestone for the Northwest Territories. We’ve been at this road for so many years. Finally the federal government has coughed up $150 million. The people in Tuktoyaktuk, the people in Inuvik went down to Ottawa and lobbied hard, schmoozing the Prime Minister, Cabinet Members to a point where the federal Cabinet said this is a priority for the government. They indicated that through the money they said they were going to give to us. I hope that we develop stringent policies or accountability, guidelines to see how other projects of this significant amount go forward.
In the Sahtu we are completing our project description reports. I know some people up there are looking forward to going through the environmental assessment and later on through securing funds, like they’re doing right now up in the Beaufort-Delta. I don’t know if that will be done in the 18th or 19th Assembly. We’ll have these kinds
of discussions; the future MLAs will have this type of discussion.
The thing for me is that it’s damned if you do and damned if you don’t on this project. We need to go ahead with this project. The Minister has heard us. Cabinet has heard us. Somehow they put the project together with other things in place such as the Borrowing Act because of the potential for oil and gas up in the Beaufort-Delta. I know what it’s like for people to work and not get income support. I know what it’s like for people to go to the office for income support. We had the Minister tell us that people were laying people off in the Yellowknife area and their income support shot up. I know people in my area have worked this winter and the income support payments have gone down dramatically. It’s a real fine balance of politics being played here.
I am going to give the benefit of the doubt to the Minister and say, you’re an honourable man. This is what you said you were going to do, work with us, and for your staff to do this work and to get it going. I know this kind of money can certainly be used around the region on different projects in the North. We find it like this. I know they need it in the southern area of the North. They need it here around this area here, in my region, in the Beaufort-Delta. But we are working closely with the federal government and the federal government wants this project, and we already said it in the Caucus that it’s a priority.
I think the question for me, and I’ve had some concerns, is how do we go about getting this project on the go. I didn’t expect a couple months ago when we said yes, we’ll give them a million dollars, I didn’t think that far ahead or couldn’t see that far ahead that they were going to come back with $2.5 million. I remember talking about that and my friend spoke against it, next to me. But I spoke in favour of it. I remember that day, because we had some people in the gallery who were listening to us from the Beaufort-Delta area. I firmly believe that by…(inaudible)…a million dollars, that we’re going ahead, not knowing that they were going to come back with this.
I think that’s what we need to be ready for and prepare ourselves for. This is a big project. The window of opportunity is there and we need not shut the blinds on that. For me to not support this is very difficult. I want to say, Mr. Chair, that the project needs to go and need to think the importance of this. I’m certainly looking for it in the future when the Sahtu starts construction on their roads or even the Mackenzie Delta, that we will get support. Hopefully from this we’ll learn some lessons. Because we’re certainly looking forward to roads in our area, especially now with the amount of oil and gas exploration that’s happening and potentially could happen in the years to come. Those are my comments, Mr. Chair.