Harper pledges $14M to chipseal Hwy 5 in Wood Buffalo National Park
'This would improve access to the community of Fort Smith, and help to create jobs,' Harper says
A re-elected Conservative government would spend $14 million to chipseal, widen and replace culverts in a 68-kilometre stretch of Highway 5 running through Wood Buffalo National Park in the N.W.T., Conservative Leader Stephen Harper announced at a campaign stop in Hay River this morning.
"This would improve access to the community of Fort Smith, and help to create jobs and economic opportunity in the South Slave region," a news release says.
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Harper also touted his government's funding of the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk highway, which he said is on schedule for completion in 2017, though construction was behind schedule as of March.
The $14 million announced today appears to be on top of up to $72 million the federal government said it would spend on N.W.T. highway improvements on July 27 — part of a flurry of spending announcements made before the election was called.
That $72 million would cover three-quarters of the cost of improvements to eight roads:
- The Mackenzie Highway — Embankment and drainage improvements and chipseal work.
- The Hay River Highway — Slope protection and drainage improvements.
- The Yellowknife Highway — Embankment rehabilitation and drainage improvements.
- The Ingraham Trail — Resurfacing, drainage improvements and chipseal work.
- The Dempster Highway — Embankment reconstruction and drainage improvements.
- The Fort Resolution Highway — Reconstruction and chipseal work.
- The Liard Highway — Embankment reconstruction and drainage improvements.
- The Dettah Access Road — Reconstruction and chip seal work.
In today's news release, Harper noted that both Trudeau and Mulcair have plans to introduce carbon pricing, "which would deal a harsh blow to Northerners who would have to pay even more for groceries, gas, and heating their homes in the winter."
He also noted that "Thomas Mulcair's hostility towards resource development threatens job-creation in the North, and puts the stability of the Northwest Territories' resource-based economy at risk."