Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Transportation spoke today of a new road. I want to raise my issue of my own road, Highway No. 7. I asked Members to keep their hands on the steering wheels and eyes on the road. We need to focus our resources on Highway No. 7. This well used, unreliable transportation corridor failed again, mostly simply, with a common washout at kilometre 221.
These road failures are common and a huge inconvenience to business, industry and the general public. Even people who are not travelling suffer from the delays in the delivery of goods and services due to the road closures and poor highway conditions. It is a disincentive to development and a barrier to what should be one of the most prosperous regions of the North.
I was recently in Fort Liard, on my spring visit, on the newly reconstructed portion of the highway from the border. There were dust clouds arising from vehicles travelling barely 20 kilometres an hour. Earlier this year Highway No. 3 was a scene of a tragic accident under conditions that were arguably better than what we often experience on Highway No. 7.
This terrible tragedy is avoidable. We cannot lose any more lives. Furthermore, industry plans to have at least 250 trucks moving between Fort Liard and the border this summer.
I call upon the Department of Transportation for a full dust control program for the safety of the residents of the Deh Cho communities, the travelling public, from the border all the way to Fort Liard.
I have made light of road conditions on Highway No. 7 many times as an MLA, from highlighting the attractions of bathtub-sized potholes, to comparing chipseal to pie crust made to be broken, but Highway No. 7 is our only road. It is a key piece of infrastructure just like any bridge, airport, ferry crossing or ice road. It is a gateway, a lifeline and a road home. People depend on this Highway No. 7 to make a living. To encourage companies to stay in the North, maybe we could build or even reconstruct, in this case, the highway that meets our national transportation standards.
Once again, on behalf of all the residents of the Northwest Territories, especially those in the Deh Cho, I call upon this government to get to work on Highway No. 7 and put its money where the rubber meets the road. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
