Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Fort Providence is a community geographically situated in the centre of the Deh Cho and the Northwest Territories, with the Deh Cho Bridge, our major highway north and south of Yellowknife, now we have cellular communications and, of course, it is also the first community of many communities along the Deh Cho.

The community has a tradition of boat captains and operators. Their knowledge of the river helps navigate boats up and down the Mackenzie. At the same time we have the present team of highway operators that make the maintenance camp for the highway and the Deh Cho Bridge. Sadly, our winter road crews who have built the ice bridge for many years have moved on and are hopefully still building other bridges. Similarly, the crew of the Merv Hardie ferry have also sailed on.

Building upon these realities, I believe we need to capitalize on our strength and challenge our thinking of helping communities such as Fort Providence, and decentralization.

The biggest natural strength that we have in Fort Providence in our favour is the spring breakup that happens in the early period of mid-May, long before the Great Slave Lake begins to clear in June. Therefore, I will be interested in knowing, from the Department of Transportation, the possibilities of considering creative opportunities with the community of Fort Providence. Decentralization of positions, a regional centre, a marine division, a marine museum, a bison interpretative centre, a highway ambulance responder team are a few ideas that are recommended to the Department of Transportation. I look forward to renewed discussions with the community of Fort Providence.

I will be asking questions in this regard later. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.