Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I spoke about the benefits to the residents of Nahendeh by having an improved Highway No. 7 this year. Now, that’s what I’ve been talking about for years. Once we improve our Highway No. 7, we will improve the economy, we’ll improve tourism and we’ll improve and lower costs of living.
I would like to ask the Minister of Transportation, we’ve got a budget sitting coming up in February/March, can he make a business case through his Department of Transportation to allocate extra resources to Highway No. 7 in the upcoming budget?
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. David Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for his question. Certainly, as we move forward I have made a commitment in this House in the past that Highway No. 7, if and when we find additional capital dollars, we would try to identify funding for Highway No. 7 as we move forward. That is still our intention.
I’m glad of the Minister’s commitment to Highway No. 7. I would, as well, like the Minister to make a business case to our Cabinet for increased investment to Highway No. 7 in the upcoming budget for 2013-2014. Can the Minister do that, working with his Cabinet colleagues?
Again, I have made the commitment in the past. There will be additional funding for Highway No. 7. I certainly look forward to that as the process moves along. We’ll hear more about that at a later date.
With the upcoming budget, will it have plans to chipseal the first 20 kilometres of Highway No. 7 from the BC border towards Fort Liard?
As the Member knows, there are a number of areas of concern on Highway No. 7. In fact, several years ago the section from the BC border to the community was chipsealed. The surface wasn’t such to hold the chipseal in place and needed to be reconstructed. We had reconstructed 20 kilometres of that portion of road. We need to look at the reconstruction to the Liard junction, I believe 38 kilometres. At that time we certainly will look to see if we have any further capital dollars to allow us to chipseal the portion from Fort Liard to the BC border. That is certainly in the plans, but it will require capital dollars to do that.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d just like to urge the Minister, once again, to seriously consider chipsealing Highway No. 7 from the border towards Fort Liard, the 20 kilometres that we had reconstructed. It will just make life so much easier for the residents of Fort Liard that travel those roads, and the men and equipment that are generating revenue by working in BC.
That will have to be balanced with the other urgent demands for the highway further down from the community of Fort Liard. We certainly hope to find a balance to find the money to get the chipsealing done.
Reconstruction of that highway is a major concern for us. I’ve mentioned it before. It will probably require upwards of $200 million to completely reconstruct the highway. We need to reconstruct portions of that highway that are in desperate need of it. That should be where the capital dollars go first.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
