Manitoba has made our highways system a priority.

We have more than quadrupled our highway investment since 1999. This year, we will be investing $366 million in capital on our highways, a record amount for a second year in a row. We are also continuing to see Northern highways receive the priority they deserve. In the 1990s, the North received as little as five per cent of the capital budget. We increased that to 25 per cent.

This change in policy didn’t just happen. When I was first appointed minister of highways in 1999, I created an extensive public consultation process known as Vision 2020, which outlined the need for a major investment in our highway system after years of neglect.

In response to Vision 2020 we introduced a major highway capital plan in 2006. The plan incorporates the vision Manitobans shared through the consultations. It called for more investment to renew the existing transportation infrastructure to protect and sustain vital economic lines of commerce, and recommended a commitment to long-term sustained, predictable funding. Long-term planning to provide for better scheduling and more efficient use of Manitoba's construction season was also seen as beneficial

How important is our highway system? Manitoba roads help deliver grain to world markets, connect families and neighbours, deliver Manitoba-produced goods to customers and pave the way for most of Manitoba's estimated $10 billion in exports to travel around the North American continent. Manitobans recognize the need to maintain and improve highways, roads and bridges that businesses and individuals rely on each day.

This five-year plan outlines the major projects the Manitoba government intends to pursue. It gives the construction industry time to plan and lays out a realistic and achievable approach to investing about $400 million each year in both capital and maintenance in the province's highways, roads and bridges.

The first five years of the government's 10-year $4 billion funding commitment is outlined in this plan in the areas of maintenance and preservation, winter roads and capital construction and renewal. This plan reaffirms the first part of a sustained decade-long investment in infrastructure and allows Manitoba's construction industry to plan and expand to meet the new demand. The 10-year commitment is a base commitment upon which additional investments may be made in subsequent years.

The plan highlights planned investments on key highways and bridges over the next five years. Additional work will be required and undertaken in that timeframe. Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation will continue to monitor the condition of highways to identify additional projects that contribute to economic growth and maintain safety.

The plan has already resulted in a major investment in highways in Northern Manitoba. In the upcoming weeks I look forward to further announcements of major investments in our highways here in the North and throughout the province.