Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to talk a bit about the trucking industry in relation to safety on our highways. Mind you, they provide a valuable service in delivering cargo and goods to our communities, and to remote locations, via ice roads. Back when the Merv Hardie ferry was crossing the Mackenzie River at Fort Providence, there were times during the yearly freeze-up and spring break-up that all traffic came to a halt.

Mr. Speaker, we really miss those days of solitude and no truck traffic, specifically the semis with their prized cargo. Most Legislators will say, the days before the debt. What I've noticed the most since the Deh Cho bridge came into being is the exponential increase in truck traffic. In the spring and in the rainy, muddy days, the trucks kick up mud that covers up your windshield completely. This temporarily blinds you to oncoming traffic, and quite possibly the ditch. In the winter months, with all the snow around, when you pass a semi, then again you are blinded in the whiteout conditions from all the snow kicked up by the trucks. A lot of instances, the trucks are in convoys of two or more and following close behind each other, so that you just notice the headlights of oncoming traffic, trucks, and the zero-visibility conditions.

There are a lot of instances where I thank the good Lord that I had the sense to slow right down to almost stopping on the highway, waiting for the snow to clear. Just recently, there was a death due to a truck not slowing down and mindful of the traffic and situations on the road. Another semi hit a passenger truck near Big River Service at Fort Providence. That man was lucky to walk away, albeit shaken up and thankful for his life. There is a speed limit of 70 kilometres per hour from the south side of Big River, and the truck may have been going beyond the speed limit.

Mr. Speaker, it seems like the Wild West show on our highways. It may be a matter of time before this gets worse. There could possibly be more and more inexperienced semi-truck drivers on our roads. This begs a few questions. Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for the Minister of Infrastructure at the appropriate time. Mahsi.