House of Assembly
Newfoundland and Labrador

Petition  
Presented May 19, 2011
For additional funding for much-needed improvements to Route 510 and
connecting branch roads of the Trans-Labrador Highway
 

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to present a petition on behalf of the people in Labrador with regard to the Trans-Labrador Highway.

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

WHEREAS Route 510 and connecting branch roads of the Trans-Labrador Highway are unpaved, in deplorable condition and are no longer suitable and safe for the traffic volumes that travel this route; and

WHEREAS Labrador cannot afford to wait years or decades for upgrading or paving of their essential transportation route;

WHEREUPON the petitioners call upon the House of Assembly to urge government to provide additional funding for much-needed improvements to Route 510 and connecting branch roads of the Trans-Labrador Highway.

Mr. Speaker, I have been presenting this petition almost every day since the House of Assembly opened. The reason for that is because the road in that part of the Province is in an unacceptable condition for motorists to be travelling over.

Mr. Speaker, every day I am getting phone calls from all regions of Labrador from people who are using that road and taking them twice as long to navigate the road as what it would normally take. I am getting e-mails, I am getting stuff on Facebook, and I am getting everything, Mr. Speaker, from people using the road in that area of the Province.

I am soon going to put out a brochure with all of the numbers of the government members, Mr. Speaker, so that they can start calling them. It is ridiculous that people in this part of the Province, Mr. Speaker, should have to come to the government begging and begging and begging every single day for someone to address the need of their road.

This morning, Mr. Speaker, when I was listening to Cec Haire on CBC, he was tweeting this morning saying anyone out there travelling on the long weekend, if you do not see the lines painted on the road let us know. Well, Mr. Speaker, you will not see any lines painted on the road I can tell you going through my district and going into Happy Valley-Goose Bay because there is no pavement to put lines on. That is the problem, Mr. Speaker. So you will not be getting any tweets I say to CBC about no lines on the road up there. Now you may be getting a lot of them about lines on the road, Mr. Speaker, on the Island because I have had three or four myself today –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MS JONES: - from people telling me about lines that are not painted –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MS JONES: - on the road on the Trans-Canada and in different areas across the Province.

Mr. Speaker, it is the long weekend and people in Labrador want to be able to get in their vehicle and drive out for the long weekend just like everyone else. They should be able to do so, Mr. Speaker, and be able to travel comfortably. They should at least have some crushed stone on that road up there, some top on it.

There are sections of the road, Mr. Speaker, that are ten years old – ten years. You know yourself, anyone in this House – anyone who has ever lived in an area with a gravel highway, Mr. Speaker, knows that after ten years you have to resurface that highway and you have to put crushed stone on it. That is all the people are asking. It is unfortunate that every single day I have to stand in my place to wait for a response from government to make a commitment to do that road in that part of the Province.
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