Mr. Speaker, a while back, I received a visit in my office from a constituent, Nicholas Reimer. He is a grade 3 student at Harry Camsell school, my alma mater. He had concerns about the safety of some of the pedestrian highway crossings at Hay River. I share his concerns, as do other constituents I have spoken with. I wanted to bring those concerns to the floor of the House today. By my count, we now have two official pedestrian crosswalks on the highway in Hay River: one by the health centre, and one from 553 to the Red Rooster. The health centre crosswalk is brand new and has bright LEDs that catch motorists' attention. On the other hand, the crosswalk by the Red Rooster has been there as long as I can remember. These lights are quite dim compared to the health centre crosswalk, and they are not always very noticeable.

Five-five-three is probably the most densely populated part of town, so there are a lot of people, including a lot of kids, who use that crosswalk every day. That is especially true in the summer months, when the long days mean it's even harder to see the lights. It would be nice to see Hay River North get the same bright LEDs for its crosswalk that the Minister had installed in his own constituency. Like I said earlier, we have two official pedestrian crossings on the highway in Hay River, but we have some unofficial ones, as well. The one that I have heard the most concerns about is actually on the border of our two constituencies. It runs from Poplar Road in the industrial area to behind the soup kitchen. Not everyone who works in the industrial area has a vehicle, so in the morning, at lunch, and after work, you often see people waiting for a break in the traffic to dart across. Again, I often see kids crossing here to go to their after-school jobs. If you look at the satellite images on Google Maps, you can actually see the walking trails worn into the ground leading up to the highway at this crossing.

Now, I don't want to slow people down when they're trying to where they are going. I am not saying we need a full set of lights at every de facto pedestrian crossing on the highway. I want to make sure we are doing what we can to keep people safe. Obviously, people should be using the official crosswalks, but it is not always practical to walk a couple kilometres out of your way and then trudge through the ditch. I will have questions for the Minister of Infrastructure. Hopefully, he will have some positive answers for me and Nicholas. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.