Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to follow up on Highway No. 7 questions with the Minister of Transportation. I did take note that yesterday the Finance Minister indicated some priorities in his ministerial statement and I was actually taken aback that Highway No. 7 wasn’t mentioned at all.
It is part of our national highway system. It is key and critical to the development of our Northwest Territories having access to B.C. and all the tours and industry that comes out of there. Especially if we are going to look at increasing the development in our region, a good highway system is critical to the North.
I’d like to ask the Minister of Transportation if he worked with the Finance Minister in looking at his statement, because Highway No. 7 and the reconstruction and the upgrades were not mentioned at all and I believe that it should be a priority of our government.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. David Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for the question. Obviously, Highway No. 7 is a concern. Going forward we are going to need to identify more funding to address the issues with Highway No. 7. Going forward it’s going to take a sizable contribution of about $3 million a year for 10 years in order to address the work that needs to be done there. A complete reconstruction of Highway No. 7 is estimated to cost about $250 million. Again, I think that’s something you’ll hear, is we really need to come up with more funding, and when we do get some more funding, certainly Highway No. 7 would have to be given the development down in the Deh Cho region something that would factor into any decisions there.
I’d like to highlight it as a priority of this government. I think far before we invest in the fibre optic line, we should invest in Highway No. 7. I don’t believe that the Finance Minister, I don’t know if they made a mistake, but he should be mentioning Highway No. 7 as a priority. Should we run into some additional funding or we relieve our debt limit, I believe that Highway No. 7 should be critical enough that it should make this initial list of investment, should we have the opportunity. I’d like to ask the Minister of Transportation if he can work with his Cabinet colleagues, work with the Premier and make this a priority going forward.
Certainly as we move forward, I’m looking forward to working with the Member and the EDI committee to make this a priority and to come up with a plan so we can address the situation on Highway No. 7. Again, it’s going to take funding and a substantial amount of funding to make that happen. But I do believe if we can work together and put everything on the table, I think we can certainly see this as a priority as we move forward when we do get some additional funding.
I believe that the Finance Minister, who’s got the strings for the financial purse, is not going to be mentioning Highway No. 7 in any of his statements. That’s my point. I’d like to ask the Minister of Transportation if he would get his colleagues to make it a priority and start mentioning it in this House.
I certainly would have that conversation with the Finance Minister and my Cabinet colleagues as we move forward and identify further sources of funding for Highway No. 7. That discussion will take place.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What’s critical here is that if the Finance Minister is going to mention four or five projects and then not mention Highway No. 7, is that when and if we do get some debt relief that it’s not going to make this list. I’d like to ask the Minister of Transportation once again, will he push and will he get his Cabinet colleagues to ensure that Highway No. 7 funding infrastructure will be done, should we have the opportunity. Mahsi cho.
In this consensus system of government, when we do identify further sources of funding, you can rest assured that I will work with the Member, I will work with committee on identifying those priorities, and Highway No. 7 should rank near the top of those priorities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
