DEBATE ON TRANSCANADA HIGHWAY TWINNING
Mr. Wall: — Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is a sombre but a welcomed opportunity
to enter this very important debate today on the emergency
resolution put forward by my colleague, the member for Cypress
Hills, and on the amendments proposed by the member for North
Battleford.
Mr. Speaker, I participate in
this debate today, and when I do so I’m conflicted by several
different perspectives on this issue. One, of course, as a
representative of the people of Swift Current and area in this
legislature. Two, as a former member of the Trans-Canada No. 1
West board of directors. And three, as a motorist and as someone
who travels the highway often, generally with my family — with
my wife and three kids. And we often make trips to Cypress Hills.
And so there are different perspectives from which I can view
today’s debate. Each of them, I think, each of them fairly
compelling.
I think it’s also significant,
Mr. Speaker, that the amendment that has been proposed by the
member for North Battleford would receive some bipartisan support
because clearly the changes in it not only impact on the length of
time that twinning will take; but also, they add the Yellowhead
Highway to the motion.
And I think it’s important for
all of us, when it comes to holding the federal government
accountable for federal/national highways in our province, that
members on all sides of the House work together. Those of us who
live close to the Trans-Canada may not like the fact, Mr. Speaker,
but the fact exists nonetheless that Highway 16 — the Yellowhead
— has been designated a national highway. And so, it too — as
any national highway in any nation — should receive some funding
for its maintenance and improvement from the national government.
Mr. Speaker, just first off from
the perspective that I have into this issue as a member of the
legislature for Swift Current and area; I can tell you that this
issue received a lot of discussion during the election. It was of
great interest to people on the doorsteps. It remains a big issue.
People talk about it on coffee row. They do so prior to the
terrible news such as we heard on Friday. It’s just a matter of
discussion.
Especially during the wintertime
when road conditions can always be a little bit questionable,
people generally talk about that stretch of highway, as the hon.
member from Cypress Hills has referred to it — suicide alley —
as a very dangerous part. It’s a part of everyday discussion,
especially when the weather turns bad. And then when a tragedy
strikes of the proportions of Friday’s, we of course hear about
it a lot more as MLAs.
I can tell you as well that the
people in my constituency, and I think it’s fair to say the
people in, certainly in Cypress Hills constituency and in Wood
River and in the ridings around the southwest part of our
province, I can tell you that people there would gladly take the
challenge of setting priorities. And I know that the challenge
must be daunting. There are a lot of demands out there for highway
improvements and maintenance that I know must be on the department
and the minister.
But I’m sure they would take
the challenge. I’m sure they would even delete a few of their
own pet projects, and every area has their own small, little road
changes that they would like to make — all groups of people do.
I’m sure that they would trade a lot of those off to accomplish
what we speak about in this particular motion today — to
accomplish the twinning of the Trans-Canada Highway to the Alberta
border, and also from Indian Head to the Manitoba border, Mr.
Speaker.
And while I can’t speak from
personal knowledge, I don’t doubt that people feel exactly the
same way in the North Battleford area — the people who live
along the Yellowhead Route from North Battleford to Lloydminster.
The second perspective that I
have when I consider the motion, Mr. Speaker, is that of a former
member of the board of directors of a group called the
Trans-Canada No. 1 West Association. Many people, many members
here will have heard the chairman of that organization commenting
on the accident and commenting on the emergent need for twinning
of that particular highway.
He is Mayor Doug Archer, and he
actually was the founding Chair of our organization of the
Trans-Canada No. 1 West Association. And if I may, Mr. Speaker, I
think Mayor Archer has done an excellent job as Chair of that
particular association.
The goals of our association
from the outset — and I as the member for Swift Current
wholeheartedly supported them — were twofold: one being
marketing the Trans-Canada Highway as a preferred route for both
commercial and tourism traffic; and two, twinning, to lobby for
twinning, to lobby for the continued capital improvement and
maintenance of the Trans-Canada Highway. And I think it’s on the
latter that the association has had some positive impact, and I
think our chairman, Mayor Archer, has done a good job in that
regard.
I should also congratulate, Mr.
Speaker, those other members of the board, past and present,
who’ve made the twinning a priority. Mayor Ray Boughen of Moose
Jaw has served that association very well in making the case for
twinning. The mayor of Medicine Hat very graciously came onto that
association’s board when perhaps he didn’t have to because, of
course, when you get to Walsh, it’s twinned already. There is
very little lobbying he needs to do as a city mayor in terms of
twinning the No. 1 Highway; theirs has been twinned for some time.
But Mayor Ted Grimm, I believe
is his name came on as an original board member to join the mayor
of Regina, myself from Swift Current and the mayor of Moose Jaw.
And the founding member for Brandon was the then mayor, Rick
Borotsik, who’s now a Member of Parliament in Canada.
And the association has made a
lot of progress, I think, in terms of drawing the attention of
federal politicians to this issue. And let’s make no mistake,
Mr. Speaker, there is precious few people in our province, and
frankly in western Canada, that need to be convinced of the
arguments that we’re making here today. But there is a good
number of federal politicians, federal Members of Parliament, who
need that convincing; who need to understand the urgency of this
matter; who need to be appalled by the fact that Canada is the
only OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development)
nation without a national highway plan, Mr. Speaker.
Federal politicians need to be
aware that this clearly is their responsibility. When people send
their taxes to Ottawa, when they pay their GST (goods and services
tax), and when they file their income tax in a couple of weeks,
they have certain expectations, Mr. Speaker, frankly that are meet
and right, and one of them is infrastructure — is basic,
national infrastructure; basic national safety on the highways,
Mr. Speaker.
And so now with this motion we
see that the government side agrees that the twinning needs to
happen a lot sooner than it has, Mr. Speaker. And we welcome that
awareness. We also welcome the fact that they also agree with us
that the federal government needs to accept its responsibility in
this regard.
I guess, the . . . and
I know that there’ll be support from the Trans-Canada No. 1 West
Association for the efforts of this Assembly here today. Mayor
Archer and the association are on record as of Friday speaking to
these very same issues and I know they would support the efforts
of this legislature here today with regards to both the provincial
and federal government coming to the table for the Trans-Canada
Highway and for Highway 16.
I guess a third perspective that
I come to this debate with, Mr. Speaker, is that of a motorist and
someone who drives that highway quite a bit. We have the absolute
finest provincial park in the province located in the southwest.
It’s the Cypress Hills Provincial Park. And the member for
Cannington is agreeing wholeheartedly, Mr. Speaker, and I welcome
his endorsements.
And like anyone else in Swift
Current, we like to take advantage of that beautiful park. We go
there quite a bit during the summertime. There’s various events
and festivals over the past that we’ve also attended in the
Maple Creek area. And of course just generally whenever we travel
west, we obviously find ourselves travelling down this very same
stretch of highway that has spawned this resolution today and this
debate that we’re having.
And I would be less than
truthful, Mr. Speaker, if I told you that I was not concerned
every single time I took myself and my wife and my three young
children down that highway to go to the park, either going to it
or coming back home. Because the truth of the matter is, Mr.
Speaker, that it’s a scary situation, that particular stretch of
highway, especially when you’re driving on a weekend; especially
when there are campers on the highway, the commercial traffic’s
on the highway, there’s local traffic, clearly, on the highway;
and all of these people are using this particular stretch of road.
The traffic numbers on the road
skyrocket in the summer, especially on weekends. And I’m just so
very thankful when I get to the twin portion, Mr. Speaker, because
I know that the rest of the way will be, you know, relatively safe
in terms of travelling.
So those are the three
perspectives that I bring to this debate on behalf of my
constituents, on behalf of my former colleagues on the
Trans-Canada No. 1 Association board and the members of that
association, as well as on behalf of all of my friends and
neighbours who are simply motorists and have to travel that
highway very, very frequently.
And so with that, Mr. Speaker, I
would indicate to you that I will be supporting both the motion,
Mr. Speaker — the spirit of the motion was that the provincial
and federal governments join together to speed up the twinning of
the Trans-Canada Highway, and the amendment added the Yellowhead
Highway as well as substituted the word "three" with the
word "four."
And so with that, Mr. Speaker, I
would be pleased to second the motion by the member of North
Battleford.
Some
Hon. Members:
Hear, hear! |
