Debates of March 8, 2005 (day 51)

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the road to getting a gym built in Nahanni Butte is hard to navigate, rocky and uncertain, literally. But today, I would like to speak to you about getting to Nahanni Butte and the completion of the access road.

Mr. Speaker, the Nahanni Butte access road has been discussed in this House for 10 years, ever since 1996. In 2003-04, the Department of Transportation report on public access roads said that these roads formed an important part of our highway system. Improvement to these roads would increase safety and decrease highway maintenance costs by reducing the blading, grade repairs, granular and dust control requirements.

Furthermore, the Governance and Economic Development committee, in their review of the 2003-2004 Main Estimates, urged the department to complete the public access road projects and devote any additional funding the department receives to get this done.

Well, here we are in 2005, Mr. Speaker. The Nahanni Butte access road is still incomplete. Although the Department of Transportation has scheduled the access road to be partially constructed up to 2007-08, the bulk of the funding to complete it lies in that black hole called future years. Now that we have the tax money, let’s strike while the iron is hot and get this road finished. While we are building it, let’s throw in an innovative training program that will train some people in Nahanni Butte to be heavy equipment operators, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, while this government accelerates this program and gets this road built by 2008, some far off distance and uncertain future is not good enough. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause