MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I stand today to present a petition on behalf of residents of Labrador with regard to the Trans-Labrador Highway.

WHEREAS the Trans-Labrador Highway is a vital transportation lifeline for the Labrador communities, providing access, generating economic activity, and allowing residents to obtain health care and other public services; and

Mr. Speaker, the people of Labrador have been petitioning the House of Assembly for weeks now asking the government to address the need with the road in the local area. Not only are they looking for an immediate response, Mr. Speaker, to what are very bad sections of gravel road, but they are also looking for a long-term commitment to pave this section of road. They have not had any response, Mr. Speaker, from the government and they are very frustrated.

In fact, Mr. Speaker, here we are now again about to head into a long weekend. Another weekend where people all across Labrador, like the people all over the Island portion of the Province, want to get in their vehicles and they want to be able to drive out for the weekend. They want to be able to drive to other areas of Labrador. They want to be able to drive out to the Island.

It is not fair that they have to put their vehicles on a road where there is nothing, Mr. Speaker, only rocks protruding in many sections, where there is a lot of loose gravel – well not loose because it is actually gone, it has disappeared now, it is on the sides of the road. What you have, Mr. Speaker, is a lot of potholes and things like this. It is causing damage to their vehicles.

In fact, I told you yesterday about a reporter I talked to in Labrador on another issue, and I just asked them if they had taken the road lately - in conversation. They told me that they drove the road just a few weeks ago, and from Blanc Sablon up to Goose Bay, which is normally a six to seven hour trip for most people, they were fourteen hours trying to make the trip.

There have been so many stories. Almost everyday, Mr. Speaker, I am getting calls in my office from people who have to use this road, almost every single day. They are not just my constituents. They are constituents of everybody else’s in this Province, other members who sit in this House of Assembly who have constituents who have to go into that area of the Province for work, for travel, for other reasons. This is not just a Labrador problem. It is a problem that is shared by everyone who wants to access that area and who wants to get out of it.