Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. Well, we will get briefings on the fiscal situation in the Northwest Territories as part of the transition. There will be a number of different scenarios which will be outlined to all Members of the Legislative Assembly, and I think we need to have a discussion and a public forum like this on how we would address our fiscal situation. What areas should we change or what areas need to be tightened up going forward?
Obviously, we have four collective bargaining agreements that have to be negotiated, so we need to take that into consideration. We need to take into account the revenues that are coming in, the tax revenues, the personal income tax revenues. We need to take a very close look at our formula financing and the grants that are coming in, because they change on a regular basis as the spending priorities in the southern provinces go. We need to look at the programs and services, working with the departments to identify what areas we want to change.
I know that we need to do more on our economy, and I think that we also have to take that into consideration, that we need to find funding so that we can invest in our economy, because we need to have an economy so that we can continue to have jobs and opportunities. We have to deal with our fiscal situation and also what areas we are going to invest in going forward.