Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have risen in this House on numerous occasions to speak about the Mackenzie Valley Highway. Today I want to shift my focus from engineering and logistics to something equally important - the profound social improvement and economic prosperity this project will deliver to our communities and the Northwest Territories, keeping in mind, Mr. Speaker, the best social program is a job.
Mr. Speaker, let us envision that project funding has been secured and construction is underway. By taking a strategic sectional approach, building the highway infrastructure in phases from south to north or vice versa, we immediately unlock the substantial business and employment opportunities across the Mackenzie Valley region.
This sectional approach is an economic development strategy. As each section breaks ground, local contractors can bid on this earth works and site preparations and developments. Regional suppliers will provide resources, fuel, and equipment, and personnel staff. Service providers will find new contracts.
This is not a single construction site, Mr. Speaker. This is a corridor of economic activity stretching hundreds of kilometers down the Mackenzie Valley. Mr. Speaker, civil engineering projects of this magnitude typically allocate 30 percent of total sales for labour. Hundreds of millions of dollars flowing directly to the northern workers in good paying jobs: equipment operators, surveyors, environmental analysts, monitors, skilled tradespeople. These are careers that will support families and create pathways to prosperity thus creating a disposable economy.
Mr. Speaker, of that 30 percent labour allowance, approximately 45 percent will be seen by governance through taxes. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Mahsi.
---Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, Mr. Speaker; thank you, colleagues. Income taxes, payrolls, consumption taxes, corporate taxes, fuel revenues, those are all realized benefits from projects like this. Beyond construction, there's the prosperity of maintenance. The highway becomes a permanent economic corridor providing dual access, reducing transportation costs. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I will deem my others as read.