Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in Inuvik in the Northwest Territories Wednesday to mark the start of construction of the country’s first all-weather highway to the Arctic Ocean.
The Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk highway will effectively extend the Dempster Highway in the Yukon and Northwest Territories through to the Arctic coast.
“I am tremendously proud that our government’s investment in this job creating, all-season Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk highway will, for the first time by road, connect and unify Canada from sea to sea to sea. This historic project realizes the visionary initiative of Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker back in the 1960s,” said Harper.
“Prime Minister Diefenbaker knew then what our government is undertaking today: Constructing a highway will improve the lives of people living in the North for generations to come, facilitating economic development, creating jobs and enabling cost-effective, safe, and reliable transportation of goods to and from Northern communities.”
A map of the Dempster Highway and the extension to Tuktoyaktuk can be found here.
Canada building highway to Arctic Ocean
