LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
The Mackenzie Valley Highway extension to Norman Wells from Wrigley is shovel-ready and just waiting on funding, according to the Fort Simpson Chamber of Commerce.

NWT MP Michael McLeod, left, was the keynote speaker at a March 2 event hosted by the Fort Simpson Chamber of Commerce. The Liberal was welcomed by chamber president Kirby Groat, right. - photo courtesy of the Fort Simpson Chamber of Commerce

The project was the topic of discussion at a March 2 meeting between the chamber, NWT MP Michael McLeod and members of Fort Simpson's business community, and would have broad and far-reaching effects for the Deh Cho, according to chamber president Kirby Groat.

"Ease of access, as well as quality of life for people who live up there is a tremendous advantage," said Groat. "Tourism is something that will come out of that, and lowering the price of living, as well as making it much more accessible for oil, gas and minerals of any sort."

Currently, the project application is up for $700 million in funding from the federal New Building Canada fund.

Groat said one major point in the project's favour is all the pre-work has been done and plans have already been drawn up, leaving just construction left to do.

"It is one of the few (projects) that is shovel-ready across the country," he said.

The project would take place over the course of years and would "maximize local people in construction of the project," Groat said.

"We want it, and we're really hoping (the federal government) comes across with the funding."

McLeod said the meeting went well and gave him an opportunity to update the chamber on what the Liberal government has been doing over its past months in power.

"I talked a little bit about the (meeting's) theme - Road to Possibilities - and why I decided to run, how I had been increasingly disappointed over the years with the investment in the North," McLeod said.

"This was a really important subject for me to talk about."

Through the Building Canada fund, the GNWT has access to about $232 million, McLeod said. Some of that has been allocated toward highway projects across the Northwest Territories as well as to access roads, some of which are in the Deh Cho.

McLeod did not elaborate on which access roads will receive funds.

The Mackenzie Valley Highway project has been applied for under the National Infrastructure component of the New Building Canada fund.

The National Infrastructure component currently has about $3.5 billion in it, according to McLeod.

"It's competing against many, many other projects from across Canada, but it has been reviewed and ... it is still being considered," McLeod said.

For McLeod, the Mackenzie Valley Highway joins a list of projects he wants to see move forward, including a road in the Tlicho and infrastructure to provide access to diamond mines.

"I'd like to see investment in one, if not all, of those in the next four years," he said.

The federal budget will be unveiled on March 22. At that time, the government is expected to determine how much money is available in its Public Transit fund, Social Infrastructure fund and Green Infrastructure fund.

McLeod said there is no certainty the fate of the Mackenzie Valley Highway expansion will be determined at that time.

Groat said the Chamber has been impressed with McLeod's commitment to work with the territory and businesses to get the highway project going.

"He's doing what he can," Groat said.

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