Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I won’t go on too long. I look forward to deliberation as we go through line by line. I press the case for most particularly Highway No. 7. I’ve been leading that charge for some time now. I look forward to, I’m going to have to agree with government, I guess, and look forward to the fall deliberations to get some capital funding and hope

that we do get our fair share to address highway concerns on Highway No. 7.

Just with that, it’s just around the corner and I’m pleased that the Minister of Transportation will be travelling with me down Highway No. 7 this coming Friday and I look forward to that. The constituents are anticipating that visit as well. That’s something that I think is important for any Minister, is to see and feel the issues that are out there in the constituencies.

I’m still dismayed that there’s no money in this year’s capital budget, but I do look forward to maximizing the capital carryovers that will happen. I think about $1.3 million. We’ll make our best use of them this year.

I think earlier in the year, too, I think the January-February session, I got the commitment from the Minister to expend all these funds before August-September when we run into rain issues. I just, once again, would like the Minister to reiterate that, that he will convey to his department that they’ll complete the work that’s scheduled for the Nahendeh riding. I think there’s also some chipsealing around Checkpoint towards Fort Simpson that’s got to be completed when the weather’s good, not when it’s bad.

Constituents have always raised with me that due to the wet roads, the chipseal falls apart quickly. There’s probably no need for that. Once again, it would be timely to capitalize the early time this season to complete our construction work. There should be no issue and I think that we would look forward to that. That was one of the commitments and I’ve conveyed that to my constituents, as well, that the commitment is there and I certainly look forward to the early work being done.

There are other concerns, as well, out there, especially driving up to the continuation of the highway up to Wrigley. It’s gravel. In some places it’s very thin. I think in the past I’ve actually identified those kilometre areas for upgrades or widening. I’m not too sure if it’s on the books either, but the residents of Wrigley want to see completion of their projects there as well. I know there’s some maintenance issues scheduled there. I’m not too sure if there are any culverts at all, but the culverts that were being worked on last year really improved the highway system up towards Wrigley and we certainly look forward to more work on that section of the highway as well.

With that, I just wanted to raise those few issues here in the opening comments and I look forward to further deliberation as we move into the budget.