Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Transportation. I’d like to talk to the Minister about the Mackenzie Valley Highway. The Minister has a proposal called Corridors for Canada III. I want to ask the Minister if there’s any type of signal or indication on the efforts on the part of the Government of the Northwest Territories, as to where that proposal is within the Government of Canada to see what type of support we’ll have to start building that important highway.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our Corridors III proposal has an element there that is targeting the Mackenzie Valley Highway and we are looking at a budget that has been released by the government on things of national significance. They have $4 billion in there and we are trying to get a piece of that to do some of the work for the future Mackenzie Valley Highway. Thank you.
We talked earlier about the increase of oil and gas in the Sahtu and I want to ask the Minister if he has had any type of preliminary discussions with his federal counterparts to see that this important proposal seeks a favourable response so we can start developing the resources in the Sahtu in a responsible manner and that the Mackenzie Valley Highway is a must for the people in the Northwest Territories.
At this time we are discussing the feasibility of perhaps traveling to Ottawa to discuss this directly with the Minister, or waiting for the federal government to do the allocations based on whichever way they intend to allocate the money that’s put into all of this, including money for the Building Canada Plan or any money as far as municipal infrastructure. Thank you.
Thank you. The delegation that actively lobbied for the Inuvik-Tuk highway did a successful job. I’m sure they can use some of their points as to how to start working on the Mackenzie Valley Highway. Specifically, I’m speaking from Wrigley all the way up to the Dempster Highway. I’m looking at a huge chunk of the road into the Sahtu, and with the oil and gas activity, I’ve asked the Minister, is there a game plan from the Government of the Northwest Territories when they go down to Ottawa to lobby the government, who then would see the importance of this highway, along with the activity that we could start earlier in building the Mackenzie Valley Highway. Thank you.
Thank you. Yes, our intention is to lobby the federal government with the whole Corridors for Canada III. We have not completely determined how we are going to do that, but we are developing a plan to approach the government. Whether we do it and communicate with them in writing or if we communicate with them face-to-face is something that we have yet to determine. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think one of the most effective ways is to lobby, to go down face-to-face with your partners to show the benefits of the Mackenzie Valley Highway from Wrigley further up north. I want to ask the Minister, is that something the Members will have some input on as to what type of lobbying will seek the most benefit from our proposal in Corridors III.
Thank you. Again, we haven’t made a final determination of what that lobbying would look like. We can keep the Members advised as we move through the plan to determine how we hope to launch our lobbying efforts with the federal government. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
