Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to voice my opinion on the Deh Cho Bridge. On Monday of this week I had the opportunity to speak to Fort Simpson constituents about the Deh Cho Bridge issues. This was forefront on their minds, as I’m sure with many Northerners. I advise that myself, I am in general support of moving forward with the construction. Opinions were very much split whether we should continue with the bridge or not. People against the bridge are very concerned that as taxpayers they will pay the increased costs of the bridge whether they agree to it or not. Constituents that do want to continue have doubts and reservations of management of the bridge. People do want to see a full disclosure of costs of the project to date and I’m very pleased that such information was provided to us in Committee of the Whole the other day and I’m happy it is public.
Constituents are angry about the increased costs of the bridge and question why these additional costs should be borne by the taxpayers. These cost overruns will have very little benefit to people in the Nahendeh riding. They do want to know why the GNWT has been left holding the bag.
I can advise it was not an easy decision the other day when we as MLAs on this side approved the additional $15 million. I do want to say that as an MLA and along with my colleagues we will be paying close attention to the project and look forward to the Minister of Transportation’s commitment for timely updates to this House and to us as Members of the legislature.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
