Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank my colleagues for addressing some of the concerns. I guess my first one is in regard to the Minister's statement when they are talking about the various highways and winter road contracts to improve transportation infrastructure in the Deh Cho. I thank the Minister and the department for doing that. However, there have been cuts previously that have affected the reductions in this, so I appreciate the department looking forward and trying to get this addressed.
The next thing I want to talk about is the amalgamations, zero-based budgeting. To me, amalgamation, we just pump these together and there was not really a zero-based budgeting. There was a zero-based review and putting them together and seeing what happened. To me, I believe in amalgamation and trying to get it, but it needs to be done properly. That means to make it a lean, mean, efficient machine.
To become more effective and efficient, we need to look at the jobs, where they are placed, where they are allocated, and where they are going to do the best bang for their dollar. We have positions that are based in Yellowknife that could have been based somewhere else, in the regional centres or maybe even in Providence. If we are looking at the highways and engineers, looking at the ferries, those positions could be brought where the ferries are, in my riding and my colleague from Mackenzie Delta's riding. Those positions should be moved there and looked at to become more efficient. That is my struggle with this amalgamation, is we didn't do it. We did not do a zero-based budget. We did a zero-based review by throwing things together. It has to become more efficient.
The other one we talked about is the winter road in Sambaa K'e. Again, when I first started, I brought this attention to the Department of Transportation that Trout Lake wanted an all-season road. Now, they are asking for some work to be done on their winter road. They had a bunch of vehicles that had elders going in for medical that got stranded for six hours. Six hours that they were there, and they had to get help to get out of there. The community has brought this to the attention of the department. I have bought this to the attention of the department, saying, "Look, here is an opportunity to fix that winter road. If we are not going to get an all-season road right now, let's fix this winter road, so it is more efficient and effective, so people can get out and get out safely." We looked at it, and this is why my Member colleagues agreed that we would try to put this $300,000 in there. It is a start to try to get this one section of the road fixed, put some people to work, build capacity within the community, and make it so, at the end of the day, the department has a road that is even that much better for the transportation.
I am trying to be as succinct as possible, Mr. Chair. These are my concerns that have been brought with this department. I thank him for taking the time. You have heard me all say this before in committee, but I am saying it again here. It is important to be more efficient. If we are going to do it, we need to do it right. Thank you, Mr. Chair.