The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

If I cannot present another petition on the air ambulance, I certainly have lots more here to present. This one is on the roads between Red Bay and Goose Bay, Mr. Speaker, and I will read the petition into the record:

WHEREAS the residents of Red Bay to Goose Bay use a section of the Trans-Labrador Highway that is unpaved and in poor condition; and

WHEREAS this road is no longer suitable for the traffic volumes that travel this route; and

WHEREAS government will not commit to provide funding to even begin paving for Phase II and Phase III of the Trans-Labrador Highway; and

WHEREAS the residents of this region deserve a similar standard of road as the Island portion of the Province;

WHEREUPON the petitioners ask the House of Assembly to lobby government to provide funding to pave the road from Red Bay to Goose Bay.

Mr. Speaker, it is no secret, the condition of the roads in my district, and it is certainly no secret that there is no plan by the government at this stage to move toward paving these sections of roads. In fact, Mr. Speaker, when the Minister of Labrador Affairs was actually asked about this on the radio, he said that they would not make any move to do anything until after the other sections of road were all paved. We are talking 2015 or 2016 before we actually start seeing government even looking to put together proposals to solicit funding for this section of highway, Mr. Speaker, and that is really unfair and unreasonable. It would be different story if the government themselves would commit to do it, but we know that is not the case. They will be looking to the federal government for the money to do just this.

Mr. Speaker, every weekend I drive over this section of highway to get to my district. Yesterday, I gave to the Minister of Transportation and Works a number of photographs that have been taken with regard to the gravel roads in that area, along with the sections of paved road. There is probably no other section of road in the Province in as bad a condition as what this one is. I might qualify that by saying maybe the one in Conche; there might be a toss-up there.

I talked to an operator who actually grades those sections of gravel road and he told me from the middle camp on the Red Bay road up to the bridge on the St. Mary’s River it is absolutely the worst piece of road that he has ever worked on in all of his years in being an operator in grading roads. In fact, Mr. Speaker, he told me that there is not enough stone left on the road right now to even fill those potholes, but yet, there are probably about 200 loads of stone stockpiled up in that area and none of it is being used on this section of road. I do not know why that is because that should be happening. I have people calling me because they are beating up their vehicle. They are ruining the undercarriage on their vehicle. They are losing tires. They are losing rims, all of these things. Therefore, they feel that something should be done. I mean this is not some frivolous issue. This is an issue where you are expecting 20,000 people in Labrador to be driving over a section of road that today is nothing only potholes and be driving over that all summer without having any crushed stone put on the road.

Mr. Speaker, the minister is aware of the issue. He said that he is going to look into the issue. I can only urge him and encourage him to do it in as soon as time as possible and to respond to the people in that area with a solution as to how they are going to put some crushed stone on that section of road this summer and be able to make it a safe and drivable road for the people who have to use it. Mr. Speaker, we know that since the road opened into Goose Bay there is a lot more traffic on this section of road. The road is over ten years old. It has not had any crushed stone on that section since it was built. I think anyone who understands gravel roads realizes that at some point you have to put crushed stone on it. You have to maintain it and keep it to a certain standard. So that is what we are asking (inaudible) -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!