Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to speak about the lack of cell service across the NWT.

Mr. Speaker, I've heard from numerous Deh Cho constituents who have voiced their concerns about the lack of cell service when travelling on the NWT highway system. People have safety concerns regarding the inability to call for help if something were to happen while travelling on our highways. Mr. Speaker, some people have told me that this is an issue that affects them so much that they fear driving alone, especially to do business in other communities or to visit family. This issue affects all residents and businesses as well, and it must be improved. The volume of traffic continues to increase, and this is a serious safety issue.

Mr. Speaker, this is an NWT-wide problem that all highways have and all regions are dealing with. All ten highways across the NWT have this problem, and this problem is especially dangerous for people in the event of natural disasters and emergencies when telecommunications can go down.

Mr. Speaker, I know this issue has come up across assemblies in the past, and now that improving public safety is part of this mandate of the 20th Assembly, I believe improving cell service across our highway system should be part of our government's plan. I will have questions for the Minister of Infrastructure later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.