Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know the saying squeaky wheel gets its grease? Well, Mr. Speaker, I don't know if there's enough grease available for your wheels, my wheels, the Minister of Infrastructure wheels, Member for Nunakput's wheels, and many of our constituents who travel the Dempster Highway from the Beaufort Delta.
Mr. Speaker, the Dempster Highway is the lifeline, as I said in this House many times, for Inuvik and the Beaufort Delta. The highway is so well used by our people that it's one of the main things that brings all our necessities to the North, from food, energy, building materials, to tourism, just to name a few.
Mr. Speaker, the cost of living in the North is already high. High costs are unfortunately a part of living because of our remoteness. But we as a government have a duty to do everything we can do to drive down costs for our residents.
Mr. Speaker, the Yukon portion of the Dempster Highway is the worst conditions we have seen. I've heard from many constituents and many of other constituents from the region that, from the corner to the border, it's horrible. It's horrible, it's horrible, it's horrible. And when it rains, don't even bother trying if you don't have 4by4.
There's also been multiple long closures that are not only on the winter road due to weather but landslides and damages to bridges, just to name a few, that left the closure for days this summer.
Mr. Speaker, companies are now starting to charge extra to drive up that road, and those costs are being passed on to my constituents and your constituents and the many other constituents of the Beaufort Delta. This means higher costs for food, groceries, energy everything that comes up that road.
Mr. Speaker, today I will be asking the appropriate Minister, which would probably be the Minister of Infrastructure, what our government is doing to push the Yukon government to do its part in terms of maintaining the Dempster Highway. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Members' statements. Member for Monfwi.
