Mr. Speaker, today all members of the House are invited to northern Alberta.
From Edmonton to Fort McMurray it is a five hour drive, and members may even survive. There is one lane north and one lane south, and on the way, members should try to avoid the 300 logging trucks and 60 buses that make the same journey every day.
They should stay away from the many wide loads that block most of the highway and the moose that may wander into their path while they take time to enjoy the view on the highway with the highest death rate per mile in Canada.
If they do survive the drive, they are welcome to Fort McMurray, the city with the lowest doctor to patient ratio in Canada. It has 19 doctors for 70,000 people.
The Liberal government takes $10 billion per year from my constituency and with this budget gives us less than $2 million for infrastructure for the fastest growing city in Canada. That is not enough.
We need doctors and we need highways and we need them now. Our families and our friends are suffering and dying every day in northern Alberta. The government can fix it.