Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was fortunate to read the letter that was written by one of the members from the Sahtu, indicating how bad the road was and so on. We had not anticipated that the roads were that bad. We thought they would be improving.

When the Member and I drove on it, it was very early and it was rough, but the department considered that it would be improving. We recognize that we do need more money to continue to improve the winter road and that we need more money for watering and more grading cycles to be able to smooth out that road.

At this time we have a contract in place and the contractor is fulfilling their obligation. However, sometimes when we have a particularly rough winter road, it’s difficult for the contractor to keep the road as smooth as we’d like it. Thank you.