Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the biggest priorities for this government in current times is to support economic growth. We need to do more to support industry exploration and development activities. How do we do that? We foster an environment that makes it easier to conduct business in the North. One of the critical hurdles for resource development in the NWT is a lack of access to remote areas. Lack of access prevents companies from exploring in areas with significant resource potential. This limits the potential for future resource development and the economic growth that it could create. Lack of transportation infrastructure is a challenge for many of our communities. It limits residents' mobility, making it difficult to build and expand ties between communities and families, and when the movement of goods and services relies on that same infrastructure, it makes everything cost more. At the same time, the infrastructure we do have is being seriously affected by climate change. Melting permafrost is damaging existing roadways and warmer winters are resulting in shorter seasons for our winter road system. In summer, low water levels are affecting our capacity to generate power.
These impacts of climate change are creating additional costs for residents and businesses in communities and represent additional costs and challenges for the resource sector and the future economic growth and well-being of the territory. In a land as broad as the Northwest Territories, our transportation network is crucial infrastructure for families, communities, businesses, and the industrial growth that our economy needs. At the appropriate time, I will have questions for the Minister of Transportation with regard to highway infrastructure and funding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
