Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the highway systems that we have in the Northwest Territories are a critical component to connecting our communities, people, our programs and services that we deliver, and also to ensure that we are able to deliver government’s programs and services.

Mr. Speaker, we cannot lose sight of the conditions of our highway systems throughout the Northwest Territories, especially in regards to Highway No. 8, the Dempster Highway, our ice roads that connect the communities of Tuk and Aklavik to Inuvik, but also, more importantly, not to lose sight that those road systems are the crucial part of our infrastructure that delivers our infrastructure by way of building materials, foods, goods and services and fuel products into our communities. But it’s important, Mr. Speaker, to note that we don’t lose sight of the condition of those roads and doing everything we can to connect all our communities to our highway systems and the communities of Aklavik, Tuk and elsewhere.

But, Mr. Speaker, I think, more importantly, we have to realize that we have a fundamental challenge by way of global warming, which is having a very detrimental effect on the condition of our roads; highways have been collapsing, roads have been collapsing, we have had accidents on our highway systems. I think, as a government, as the 16th Assembly, we do have to find a better way of how we maintain our infrastructure by way of looking at alternative means, such as chipseal or even looking at the possibility of pavement. But yet, Mr. Speaker, we do have to find an alternative means of maintaining our most important asset that connects us to our communities, which are our road systems.

But again, Mr. Speaker, I think it’s crucial that we, as government, have to think outside the box and continue to put gravel on top of road systems and realizing that our road systems are critical to our system. But also we have to have a safe system for people to drive on. I think it’s important to look at statistics where we have seen a lot of accidents, especially on the Dempster Highway in the last couple of years. I know my colleague from Inuvik Twin Lakes helped raise this issue in the House during the previous Assembly and I’d like to thank him for that, because I do drive the highway a lot and I realize that the road conditions in the last year were probably the worst I’ve ever seen.

So I’d just like to, at the appropriate time, ask the Minister of Transportation some questions on the Dempster Highway. Thank you.

---Applause