Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’m going to be speaking on the Inuvik-Tuk highway. Yesterday we had a couple of strong statements and some questions in the House that gives a perception out there that our government is actually hiding something in terms of moving forward on this project and that deals are being done behind closed doors.
I sat here and I listened to it, and I felt that I had to say something today that we do have a process, and that process is waiting for the right correspondence from the federal government. The Minister sat up in the House yesterday. He explained himself. He answered the questions as best he could, but when he was answering, he was also mentioning that some of the information that some Members were seeking was also confidential.
We are very lucky in this House, and as legislators and as MLAs, to get some of this confidential information to help us make the right decisions that we have to make. There is a process for it. When the time is ready, it comes down into the House and we make that decision. I felt that it was unfair to the Minister and unfair to the House that we did have some Members questioning the Minister and trying to get the Minister to bring confidential information out into the public. Obviously, we are going to bring confidential information to the public. Obviously, we are going to bring this information to the public, but there is a process for it.
I just wanted to bring this out because I felt that although we know it in this House, the perception, the way it was stated yesterday, there is perception in the public that the government is hiding documents and hiding information and I don’t feel that is the case.
This is a big project. Obviously, I am in support of the Inuvik-Tuk highway for many reasons. A lot of them were discussed in the House. A lot of them were discussed in Members’ statements and Ministers’ statements, but mainly it’s for people in my region, in the Beaufort-Delta region and the community of Inuvik, looking at some of the stats for income support. We have an increase in the amount of dollars that our government is providing for people that are on income assistance right now. We have an increase in the amount of people that are applying to income assistance. We’re getting houses that are foreclosing in the community of Inuvik. This is not only providing infrastructure for the government, for the region, but it’s doing something that’s bigger in terms of Canada and the nation bringing our nation together closer, coast to coast to coast and building infrastructure to each coast.
I wanted to bring that up in the House today, that there is perception out there. I want to let the public know that we are following due course on this project, and when we do have information, it will become public. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A lot has been said in this House in recent days about the proposed highway between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk. There has been so much talk about cost overruns that I was starting to wonder if I had missed the start of construction. Of course, we know that the decision has not yet been made. Critics of the project are so fixated on costs that they downplay the most important fact: The Inuvik-Tuk highway is a great investment in our economy and future. The benefits are huge. There will be hundreds of jobs building the road for people in the Mackenzie Delta, Inuvik and Nunakput areas. Many of these jobs will last for several years and possibly much longer if the Mackenzie Valley Highway Project goes ahead. There will be many business opportunities and most of the work will go to northern contractors.
I do want to throw in a word of caution here. Gwich’in businesses have not always had a fair shake in getting government contracts in the ISR and that must not happen on the Inuvik-Tuk highway.
This project will turn around the weak economy that we have had for so many years in the Beaufort-Delta. Our young people will see that they have a way to get ahead and support their families. They will see that going to school is important. We need these jobs. Every year the cost of living goes up and up, and with the cost of electricity and fuel, and groceries and everything else, our people need opportunities besides income support. Once it is finished, the Inuvik-Tuk highway will bring down the cost of living in Tuk and open new opportunities there including tourism, especially if the increased investment dollars that can promote all the Delta has to offer. If we build it, they will come.
