Debates of February 15, 2005 (day 36)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member’s statement today has to do with the road conditions of our goat trail in the Sahtu, our winter road. Mr. Speaker, I received numerous complaints from the people in the Sahtu about our winter road conditions, the wear and tear that is on the winter road and the number of trucks that are going up through the Sahtu to haul rigs or bring supplies into our region. Also, for the people who are travelling out of the Sahtu in that short period of time who come to places like Yellowknife, Hay River and Fort Simpson to do their winter shopping and also to do their vacationing. Because the cost is expensive to fly, people take this opportunity to travel down to these other centres to do their holidaying and shopping.

My constituents are very concerned because of the wear and tear of the road and the lack of maintenance. I understand that the department has done additional maintenance there, but there are still lots of bumps and grinds. Instead of us taking extra blankets and battery cables, we would take springs and shocks for us to equip our vehicle with. So they are very concerned about the deterioration of the winter road. This government putting some money into the winter roads would make it less painful for our people to go between communities.

We know industry has put some money into some of the roads, and there is a big difference between industry roads and government roads. They wanted me to bring this up to the Minister to see what could be done in terms of fixing up our goat trail that would make it into suitable winter roads in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause