No, I've used up my quota of yesses for the week. Mr. Chair, the Member makes a good point on the housing infrastructure. One of the challenges that all of jurisdictions are facing is, and I've said it a number of times, is the decline in funding at CMHC. I think the current Minister of Housing has made a commitment that they're going to continue to raise the issue at the FPT table, and one of the benefits with the new federal government is that they actually are willing to come to the table. We've never had that before; we were very challenged. In all my time as Minister of Housing I think we may have had a federal presence once. I think it was the only one FPT we've ever been to, so this current government is more receptive to attending FPTs and having discussions on the CMHC funding. We're very fortunate that this government, I think in the last couple of years, has put some money towards offsetting the decline. I believe it was $1.2 million last year, and it might have been a bit more in the last budget that we debated. So that has continued to be a challenge, but now I think at least we have the ear of the federal government.
As far as the four-bay garage goes, I am pleased to see it in the capital budget because I do know the one that the Member's talking about and good on them. I think it was our Government as we put more money actually into the condition of the roads, then the condition of our buildings, and you see that firsthand, Mr. Blake, and so it's a long overdue project and hopefully it'll help them to be able to look after their equipment a bit better.
The Dempster widening, you're absolutely correct, Mr. Blake. We are going to have to take into account the increased traffic with the Inuvik Highway potentially opening. Then large sections of the road have been widened, but there's still a few more to go I think from Tsiigehtchic all the way to Inuvik is a prime example. So we'll continue to work with transportation, and I'm not sure, I would have to have a discussion with Transportation to see what their long-term plans are for the ferry in Tsiigehtchic, and again you are correct, Mr. Blake, that we are going to see an increase in traffic and we have to be ready for it because I've been on the opposite shore when there's 15 vehicles waiting. It takes an awful long time to get over because of the capacity of the current ferry, and traffic is increasing quite a bit too. So I'll have a conversation with transportation and see what their long-term plan is for the ferry in Tsiigehtchic. Thank you, Mr. Chair.