Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Later this week Members of this Assembly will return home to spend the holiday session with their families, friends and community people. All across the Northwest Territories people will be enjoying Christmas services in their community churches. In Fort Providence, however, the church will be empty for the third Christmas, despite a resolution and promise from this government last July that the church would be renovated.
Mr. Speaker, I was shocked to learn that the expenditure of $25,000 for capital renovations to the church has been cancelled. My heart goes out to the people of my community, especially the elders who have been dreaming of the day when they would once again worship in the church where they were taught Christian ways by their parents and grandparents.
How does the government expect to retain any credibility with the communities when projects such as this are frozen by bureaucrats in Yellowknife due to a financial crisis that surfaced overnight? I attended the standing committee on finance meeting as recently as September, and there was no mention of any financial crisis. The people of my constituency want to know how the Government of the NWT got into so much financial trouble so quickly without any warning. A $65 million deficit does not just happen overnight, and voters want to know if these financial problems were hidden from them and us until after the election.
I would like to close, Mr. Speaker, by stating that the life of an MLA is difficult enough due to prolonged absence from our families and the communities and keeps us from the traditional activities which some of us love. We do not need the additional burden of having our hard work and commitment to the interests of our people dismissed with the stroke of a pen by corporate-style government.
The elders of my constituency relied upon me to do the work on their behalf; to achieve the aspirations of their communities. I will work hard on their behalf to convince other Members of the need for these renovations. I guess that is why I am particularly hurt, Mr. Speaker, by the fact that the Minister of Culture and Communications does not realize or care about the effects of his decision. Thank you.