Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker-elect. I would first like to congratulate yourself and the new Premier-elect. I would like to say mahsi cho to... [English translation not provided.]

I'd like to speak on key issues facing our people across the Northwest Territories. If elected to Cabinet, the work that I will do are the changes that are needed and the work that must be continued. Throughout my speech, the theme is creating employment opportunities where they are needed most.

I would like to start with changes in the way we do business in housing. I believe that we must develop a strong communications strategy. We still have tenants who think that maximum rent in Housing Corporation units is 30 percent of their gross income, and it has been 19 percent since the last changes to the rent scale.

Our homeownership programs need to be revamped. The current suite of programs is not working. The people continue to live in core need. I will, as a member of Cabinet, work on actively lowering core need across the NWT, including Yellowknife. In addition, we must renovate seniors homes so that seniors age in place, to avoid spending millions of dollars that would otherwise be needed to place seniors in long-term care. Health and social services programs will also have to be enhanced in order to do this.

We must continue our work with the federal government, to bring more Building Canada funding to the NWT and continue work on our proposals to build a Mackenzie Valley Highway, the Tlicho all-season road and the road into the Slave Geological Province.

In our small communities, where employment is often seasonal, we must continue to work with the MLAs' committee on the Sustainability of Rural and Remote Communities to support the traditional economy and continue to offer world-class fur products on the world market. We must support subsistence hunting and put healthy food on the tables of people who need it most.

I feel we, as a government, must develop a youth strategy, a strategy for youth employment and youth development, a strategy for youth leadership and develop new youth programs. I feel that if we added youth officers to work in our communities and our regions, we would see tremendous returns.

This government must invest more money into early childhood development, such as midwifery, prenatal work and healthy families, targeted at aged zero to three and preschool. Most of the programs are in place, but they are underfunded. We should have more money available for daycares, Aboriginal Head Start. Recognizing that those are federal programs, however, there are tremendous returns in early childhood development spending.

We must review our programs to make sure that every dollar this government spends is spent strategically, so that we maximize our spending and benefit as many people as possible in the NWT. We must move the Akaitcho claims to an AIP within one year, and we must move towards the Dehcho claim in two years, moving that to an AIP.

We must work with the federal government, utilizing our Devolution Agreement, to clean up the 600-plus waste sites that exist across the NWT.

We must support small businesses to remain in operations so that they can continue to employ Northerners.

We must look at different ways of doing things in our correction facilities. We spend over $100,000 per year per inmate while they do not add to our economy by not paying taxes and not being productive members of society.

We must look at ways to deal with the taxing and leasing and renting of lands in the communities where it's still viewed as a strange concept to pay for their own land and pay taxes on property that they've owned for many, many years.

Our government must look at increasing our support to ensure that we are graduating students who are ready to be successful when attending post-secondary education, and we must remain in touch with our post-secondary students, to ensure that they complete their studies.

We must increase the number of summer students that work for the GNWT, and provide incentives to small businesses so they can offer a competitive wage when hiring summer students.

We know that addictions is a drag on our economy and we must find ways to address that issue.

In closing, I offer myself as an experienced Cabinet Minister. I have been a Minister of Health and Social Services, Minister for Seniors, Minister for Persons with Disabilities. In the last two years, I have served as Minister of Transportation, Minister of Public Works and Minister of Human Resources. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker-elect.