Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Love is in the House today.
---Laughter
I’ll continue mine with love for Highway No. 7. The government is sending clear messages that the Northwest Territories is open for development like never before. The mineral development, the Economic Opportunities Strategy, NWT Days in Ottawa and increased funding for tourism all show Canada and the world that the Northwest Territories is the place to invest. Yet, anyone driving north on Highway No. 7 from BC would wonder, do we really mean it.
Highway No. 7 is a gateway to the North. It enters the BC border to Fort Liard and to Fort Simpson and it also services the community of Nahanni Butte. I don’t need to remind government and the Department of Transportation on how the condition of that highway affects my constituents and travellers coming north. My constituents have always told me the highway makes our living and it brings work to us.
The community of Fort Liard is willing to partner with the GNWT this year to improve chipseal, but the millions of dollars budgeted for Highway No. 7 is like a band-aid on a broken leg.
The Deh Cho, one of the most spectacular regions of the Northwest Territories, and home to the Nahanni National Park Reserve, has seen less visitors every year. ITI recorded a total of 39 day-use visitors at the Deh Cho parks in 2011-12. Previous years saw 10 times that many.
The Prairie Creek Canadian Zinc Mine needs reliable transportation corridors to fulfill commitments in its socio-economic agreement and to its shareholders. Devolution is expected to bring new positions to our communities, and people relocating to the Deh Cho region will expect highway infrastructure that is reasonably comparable to other parts of Canada.
Already oil companies are travelling through my riding as they explore the central Mackenzie Valley shale play. We only need to look south to the boom in northeastern BC and north to the Sahtu to see oil and gas potential to the Deh Cho region.
We cannot afford a treacherous highway. The tourism and benefits alone would pay for its reconstruction. If we take our communities and economic development in the Northwest Territories seriously, we need infrastructure that supports it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
