Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regard to the situation of low dust control in communities we are now realizing that communities are going out of their way to set up roadblocks to raise money to chipseal roads in their communities. I think that’s a pretty drastic step to take, but in this case people have to take that step to bring attention to the dismal situation communities find themselves in, especially dealing with dust control.
Over the last number of years communities have requested from this government programs to deal with dust control, to look at main street chipseal, yet I notice that has been excluded again from the budget. I believe that this government has to do everything it can to improve the quality of life in communities, especially dealing with dust control.
Yesterday in a rally that I took part in, this was heard loud and clear from the young people who were taking part in the protest, raising the issue with regard to N’dilo and the condition of roads in the city of Yellowknife’s boundaries. I think it’s important, being the capital of the Northwest Territories, to do everything we can to let people realize there are not two sides to the capital city. There are the urban dwellers on one side and the people living in Third World standards by way of roads and services. As a government we’re responsible for improving the quality of life for all residents and being fair to all residents when it comes to programs and services.
I believe that this is a trend that communities have to take to get the message out, and start, you know, establishing roadblocks. I think that tells us that we have a problem.
I think it’s important that this government tries to find solutions to solve this problem and work with the affected people in those communities in being able to give them what everyone else is taking for granted, such as the chipseal or basically some sort of surfacing for those communities.
I know we’ve raised this issue in regard to committees of this House. There was the committee on small communities. This was an issue that was raised in their final report.
So, Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister to ensure that he does whatever he can to work with these communities to solve this problem.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Members’ statements. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
