Thank you, Madam Chair. I firstly want to congratulate all 19 MLAs for putting their name forward in contributing to their efforts on including and delivering their endeavours for the next four years. It's a very prestige obligation to serve this institution and the better interests of the people that put us here as well as the whole Northwest Territories. So given that, I want to thank everybody on putting their name forward and the success in their campaign.
And as we conclude the process for prioritizing our four-year journey, it's very common to hear somebody -- some of the situations that are plaguing in our communities and our urban centres and our territorial economy and so on. In all aspects of what we've heard so far and moving forward and in the process of concluding our priorities, I also look forward to hearing in the coming weeks from our other organizations that they represent residents of the Northwest Territories.
When I did my campaign trail, I seen and heard many concerns, right from housing right to medical travel right to the conditions of the school in Colville Lake.
The school in Colville Lake is a building offering education to the residents of Colville Lake. And it's not very -- it's very concerning to see two classrooms, two individual classrooms, with four classes within each room offered by one teacher. And you have a curtain way for a doorway. That's not what we stand for in delivering education. So I also look forward to recognizing the projects that are out there. The incomplete school in Colville Lake, for example, the incomplete health centre in Tulita. How are we going to deliver health care to the residents of Tulita if we have an incomplete building? These buildings stand for capital projects which could add to the economy, creating a disposable economy for the residents and the workers. So I look forward to putting that as a priority amongst others. The projects listed and are shelved there do not contribute to an economy. So I look forward to expediting that through a priority.
Building relations, we also got to look forward in our coming years to build relations with the federal government and recognizing the many resources that they have through the number of programs. And when I listen to last week's 2023 fall economic statement, I recognized some principles that we can use for the strengthening of our engagements with the federal government. And also recognize the limitations of TFM. We are operating on a core funding that gives us limitations on resources to deliver the fuel subsidy for the program, yet the escalating inflationary factors keep going up, such as carbon tax. And I've heard that a number of times this morning and on the campaign trail. So we also got to look at escalating and increasing our programs and services based on inflation. So I see that as a very important process in strengthening our federal engagement.
And we're plagued by a number of issues that we all heard on our campaign trail, housing being a major one. And the whole impacts of climate change, transitioning to a greener economy is going to cost money, and the adaptation for climate change is also going to be a factor for escalating rates. And when I see the initiatives before us to help boost our economy, we have a number of critical mineral stakes of claims out there that we can assist with the private sector to help boost our economy.
The Northwest Territories, like many small communities within my riding, are plagued by the socioeconomic challenges, challenges contributing to mental health. We also got to look at mental health, what triggers mental health. Once we identify our priorities, then we can go to the nuts and bolts of defining that in developing an action plan to address mental health, cost of living, housing, and the list is endless.
Higher interest rates is plaguing our projects. In defining our economy, a descriptive statement would say our economy went from roadside assistance to roadside repos. So I think we have got to look at defining how can we reverse that.
There's a number of priorities as mentioned by all of us, and we are -- this 20th Assembly is really in a unique position for developing change, change in a number of priorities and defining those priorities with an action plan to deliver and improve our programs and services.
Education is important to us. We've heard that in our campaign trail. Now, let's look at how to improve the new partnership with the BC government on delivering an academic program that is designed and tailored for the North.
So those are just some of the issues that I look forward in bringing forward on a collective approach during this priority setting process in collaboration with the IGOs in the next coming days, next coming weeks.
Also, the social fabric of our communities is very low for a number of reasons. In my area, similar to other areas, we've got the absence of industry. What replaces industries' injection to the prosperity and to ops for training that come with their presence?
I can recall years ago we had a family that was travelling south on times off, going to get their truck serviced or even exchanged or buying a new one. And that same family is coming back home. I pass them on the winter road. They're full of smiles. The back of their truck is heaped with groceries, and everybody's smiling. I'm going back home to drop my family off and going back to work. That smiling face is not here today. We can go to every small community and every urban community, and you can see that. So there's many conflicting plaguing problems with our communities.
I'm hearing a lot of the influx of drugs and addictions. What's the solution to that? That becomes the aftereffect of designing and hearing and identifying the priorities followed by a review on efficiencies, whether it's a review on efficiencies by department, by department to the programs and services we have, to reflect the redesign process and remedies for those problems that we heard. So I look forward to concluding our priorities, in closing, and hearing from others and collectively over the number of weeks, let's put our list together followed by a review in efficiencies for departments and priorities. Mahsi cho.