Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member’s statement will be similar to Mr. Menicoche’s on the winter road north of Wrigley.
When I visited the Sahtu some time ago, I drove up from Wrigley to Norman Wells, and from Wrigley to Blackwater is about 105 kilometres, and Tulita another 153 kilometres. The winter road is very rough. Actually, between Blackwater and Tulita there are about 57 snow-fills that you have to make and cross over.
I’m happy that the oil companies are putting the winter ice road paving program in place to get the roads smoothed out there. A lot of people have bought a lot of vehicles in Hay River or in Yellowknife here, and they’re worthwhile these vehicles, and the road is pretty rough and they have to go pretty slow at times, and there’s no fault to the contractors who put the roads in. They’re one of the best road building constructors that I have ever seen in the Northwest Territories.
My concern, along with Mr. Menicoche, is that the Roadside Assistance Program is useless in the Sahtu region. As Mr. Menicoche said, north of Wrigley, people who have broken down, new trucks, cold weather driving also doesn’t help. They say that when they call for roadside assistance there is no help for them. Basically, they’re literally on their own.
I’m going to call upon this government to designate that road so the Ford, GMC, whatever company these vehicles are sold to people in the small communities, that the roadside assistance will be honoured, and that the Government of the Northwest Territories needs to step up to the plate and put this roadside assistance in place so that our people then do not have to pay out of their own pocket to get a truck to bring them down to the garage. I’m going to call upon this government to make a commitment that sometime before this winter road ends that letters will be going out to the companies to honour roadside assistance, and I will do that along with Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
