Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. This is one of the departments that I deal with extensively because we’ve got almost 25 percent of the roads in the Nahendeh riding and airport infrastructure as well. We had good exchange in the House earlier with the Minister with regard to Highway No. 7, the strategy and what the department has planned to upgrade and reconstruct that road, given the impending Canadian Zinc Mine expansion plans as well as constituents have always told me the importance of Highway No. 7 when it comes to tourism.
I think I have said it in the House before, that Ted Grant actually gets phone calls from Europe when tourists are coming north and asking specifically about how is Highway No. 7. He’s a good man; he’s honest and he tells them, if it’s in very, very poor condition, don’t even try to drive up this way. The tourism stops in northern BC also let tourists know what the condition is of the highway.
For me, we have to continue working on Highway No. 7. We’ve got to get on it early to prevent a blow-up like we did about four years ago when small vehicles were actually getting stuck in the highway. That just removes a lot of income
potential from tourism and people bringing their freight through Highway No. 7 to and from Fort Liard as well. So, it has an economic impact and loss of economic benefits as well. So, that’s interest in Highway No. 7.
Another big, important aspect of transportation in the past few years was the construction of the new 3,500 airstrip in Trout Lake. I am very pleased the Minister of Transportation was able to go through there in December. We viewed it, it was completed, we landed on it and it was an absolutely wonderful piece of infrastructure. One thing missing is – I’m glad it was blowing cold – there is no terminal there. I’d like to ask the Minister what the plans are to get that terminal into Trout Lake.
As well, the members of the community raised the concern about how the airport was constructed and there may be some issues come spring thaw with settling and that kind of stuff. They remained concerned about that, so I convey that to the Minister as well. I’d like to know what their plan is, should there be a failure on that runway, Mr. Chair.
Also, Trout Lake has always been requesting a snow blower to help them clean their runways. I think, in this case, a request for a snow blower even makes more sense. It’s a much larger airport, it has a much larger apron and it will take a lot of work. I know they have done the work with the grader in the past, but I don’t believe it’s as effective as a snow blower will be. So I continue to trust the matter and ask the Minister if they can come up with a plan to look at getting a snow blower for the community of Trout Lake.
Some of the other highway sections are between Fort Simpson and Wrigley. I know they did some work last year. I’d like to ask the Minister what the continued plan is for strengthening the Wrigley section. As we talk about the Mackenzie Valley Highway extension, I believe we have to continue strengthening that road. They’ve done wonderful work between Fort Simpson and Nduli ferry. So, they have to continue that same level of upgrading and grade lifts between the Nduli ferry and the community of Wrigley. There are some soft spots there as well. I’d like to know what the plans are for investing in that section. I am going to put it in as a request, but highway reports keep indicating that section is in poor condition. That’s the department’s own report. So it’s time to review the situation and say, how are we going to upgrade the report to the point where we don’t have to concentrate on it when we develop our expansion plans for the Mackenzie Valley Highway north?
We have had some great investments in continuing the chipsealing between Providence junction and Checkpoint. Constituents are quite excited that in our lifetime we might actually see that whole 240 kilometres chipsealed. I would like to know what the plan is moving forward with that. It’s always great to
see men with equipment working on that, upgrading and making it wider. That’s an old highway, as well, so it’s great to see the investment there, only because the future of the North can get busy with the development of future economic development in the Sahtu region not only while they travel on a planned Mackenzie Valley extension but also on their existing infrastructure like Highway No. 7 and Highway No. 1. That’s the importance of that, strengthening and continuing a chipseal program as we move forward. With that, I conclude my comments. Thank you, Mr. Chair.