Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to speak more about the elusive Deh Cho Bridge project since this has become the basic coffee shop talk-of-the-day here in the NWT. Mr. Speaker, I can attest that much of this coffee shop talk is really not favourable towards the public’s trust in our government, Mr. Speaker. Although the majority of the people in the NWT, more specifically in the North Slave region, myself included, Mr. Speaker, are supportive of a bridge across the Mackenzie River, many have expressed concerns of the costs to northerners associated with a project of this magnitude, but, more importantly, issues about the lack of accountability and transparency displayed by our government when the decision to move forward on this initiative was announced last week in our Premier’s sessional statement.

Before the Premier’s statement was made public, Mr. Speaker, no one on this side of the House, or in the public in general, was even aware that discussions and negotiations were ongoing let alone being finalized and guaranteed by the FMB, the bridge proponents and the contractor’s negotiators in this whole project. This is unacceptable, Mr. Speaker. I feel that this government is setting a bad precedent and a practice of bad faith in our so-called consensus government to the electorate. All elected members and the public have the right to be fully engaged and informed of how much public money is going to be financing this once termed self-financing project. For how long will the public purse be opened to keep this project viable and on track? These are only a couple of the very fundamental questions that are in our people’s minds and this government has an obligation to answer all of these before the public is willing to give us their blessings for spending much needed dollars which could have been allocated which other much needed high priority items such as a courthouse, treatment centres, dementia centres and other important highway initiatives along the Mackenzie River Valley, the Tuk to Inuvik all-weather road, and even our highways in general are in dilapidated states all over. These are just to name a few, Mr. Speaker. I think this government’s vision for residents of the NWT is to take responsibility. I would like to see this government take its own responsibility for the public’s money, that people are confident in how we are spending it. The way it has been rolling out so far, that confidence is really waning. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause