Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess I'm not going to leap to my feet to thank the Minister of Finance yet. I think he's done a difficult job as well as possible, and the budget that was presented earlier this session is finely crafted, I will acknowledge that.

However, Mr. Speaker, for my constituents, some decisions made by this government that predated this budget are far more important and had a far more devastating impact than anything that was announced in this session. I refer to the social housing rent increases and the staff housing rent increases. Mr. Speaker, there's no way of measuring the effects of these policies in our communities. We're just beginning to see some of the impacts of the apprehended increases in the social housing rent scales. As far as the increases to staff housing rent, we'll never know how many people were discouraged from seeking employment with the Government of the Northwest Territories or left employment with the Government of the Northwest Territories because of the hardships that have been wreaked. I know, Mr. Speaker, the policy was adjusted, I know it may still be adjusted, I know that there was a so-called hardship allowance put in place, but I have to tell the Minister of Finance that although these two initiatives will produce some revenues for the Government of the Northwest Territories and may have contributed to the praise that's being offered on his budget, the social and human cost has yet to be tallied up. People in Nunavut are saying these two initiatives were a double hit.

Mr. Speaker, people in my constituency are asking how this government can justify collecting -- not just from the head of the family, but from total household income -- up to 30 percent of income towards social housing rent scales when banks in this country, when adjudicating eligibility for a mortgage, would never risk having that high a percentage of the household, of the family income, go towards paying the rent. Mr. Speaker, we've taken the hit in Nunavut already and, in some respects, those two major initiatives have overshadowed the budget that was presented to this House earlier this session.

Mr. Speaker, I'm not naive about the need to make cuts and to restrain government spending, but my advice to the Minister of Finance, the Premier and her Cabinet is that when cuts are necessary and when they're being implemented there are ways of implementing cuts and there are ways of implementing cuts. I'm not satisfied, Mr. Speaker, when I look at the reorganization of MACA, which I think was driven by the need to reduce headquarters spending and person-years; when I look at the plans for reorganizing the GLO positions in the Nunavut communities; when I look at the plans to revise the funding for student residences in the regions, I'm not sure if the government is implementing those fiscal changes in a way that is thoughtful, in a way that is planned, in a way that is incremental.

Mr. Speaker, I want to encourage the Minister of Finance in implementing these cuts to do so in a way that maximizes the existing resources, takes a logical approach at looking at other ways of supporting some of these essential services, and considers the human element. I think all too often we have not considered the human element. Even though this government's had a long tradition of being considerate of its employees, now that we're in more difficult financial circumstances and tougher decisions have to be made, I think somehow that reputation is suffering in the rush to implement financial restraint.

Mr. Speaker, a couple of other points made by other Members I'd just like to endorse: I think it's critical that balanced budget legislation be adopted by this government during the life of this Assembly. I agree with Mr. Ballantyne that with the imminence of division of the Northwest Territories, with added financial pressures that we now know will be upon us from the federal government, it's critical that this Assembly which has been more or less spared from the severity of these financial pressures, leave a legacy of balanced budget legislation. I think now is the time to do it and I think it's critical that it be done well in advance of the very difficult and perhaps confrontational negotiations and discussions about fiscal matters that are going to intensify as we approach April 1, 1999. This is in the interest of the new western territory; it's in the interest of the Nunavut territory that those territories not be talking about the division of significant liabilities as well as the division of assets. I'd like to just echo the recommendation of the Standing Committee on Finance, on which I'm privileged to serve, that this matter must be dealt with this session and that I consider it a critical part of our budget deliberations during this session. I'm prepared to support a private Member's bill if the Premier and the Minister of Finance cannot get support from Cabinet to move ahead with this critical piece of legislation.

I would also like to say that I think it would be responsible if there was a thoughtful transition plan developed. I think it did benefit the current Legislature that there had been some considerable work done. I think it allowed our new Legislature to get some work under way quickly so that the changes that we've now seen being implemented in terms of departmental reorganization, consolidation, achieving efficiencies by rationalizing departments and department functions, these have actually been able to be accomplished in the life of this Assembly. If we don't have good advice for the next Assembly about what are the critical issues that should be pursued, they may not have that advantage of being able to continue the momentum. Now, of course, Mr. Speaker, it's up to the new Assembly whether or not they take that advice, but I think we can provide them with the benefit of our experience and it will be probably be gratefully received.

Mr. Speaker, the last major point I wish to make has to do with social issues. Mr. Speaker, when I ran for office in 1991, I was running against a former superintendent of Social Services for this territorial government in the Baffin region. She ensured that the social issues were prominent in the election campaign. But I also want to say that the people of my constituency impressed upon me that social issues came before everything else.

Mr. Speaker, I made pledges to my constituents that I would make social issues a priority. I informed my constituents of my first belief, which hasn't changed, that if we don't have healthy families, if we don't have educated young people, if we don't

have healthy communities, all the political, constitutional and economical development in the world will pass us by.

So, Mr. Speaker, not that political, economic development and constitutional development aren't important and aren't of great interest to me, it's just that unless we're well and ready to take up those opportunities others, not northern people, will benefit from those developments.

We got off to quite a good start, I think, Mr. Speaker, after the 1991 election. A Special Committee on Health and Social Services was appointed, toured widely, didn't spend a lot of money but came up with, I believe, a very sound and practical blueprint for social change and progress. Following the tabling and adoption of the special committee reports, I think we lost some momentum.

To my mind, one of the reasons the social issues were neglected, frankly, Mr. Speaker, was the crippling turnover of Ministers in both Health and Social Services. I was one of those short-term occupants of those portfolios and it was a very frustrating exercise because there was just barely enough time to begin to see the problems, begin to develop a plan, and I was history and another poor soul was taking up the challenge. I think these were circumstances that no one planned, particularly.

But the end result, Mr. Speaker, was that the social issues were neglected. We saw some evidence of this in the capital budget of 1993 when, after the dust settled, we found to our surprise that it seemed the major priority for the Government of the Northwest Territories was transportation. This was a great credit to the dynamic, aggressive and -- as I heard him called today -- "spiffy" Minister in that portfolio, Mr. Speaker. But somehow I believe that hard programs like transportation and even public works won out in the debates in the budget preparation over the soft programs in social services; the ones that I think most of us really know are fundamental to the needs of the people of the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, we made a little progress in the development of this year's budget when the Minister of Finance decided to develop envelope committees. I was especially pleased to see that this year in the O and M estimates, we've actually seen that there has been an increase of over $36.6 million in both capital and O and M spending in the social envelope compared to 1994-95. I don't think this is a matter of Ministers in the Social Envelope Committee winning over other Ministers; I think that it's a matter of adjusting priorities to what we all understand are some pretty fundamental needs in our communities. So there is an overall increase in the coming year in the Social Envelope Committee, and I think we're now starting to make some progress.

However, Mr. Speaker, if we look closely at what the departments of Health and Social Services have been actually able to do to meet the urgent recommendations of the Special Committee on Health and Social Services, we only find that the surface is just being scratched. I note that all we have budgeted for, in terms of some of the new initiatives recommended by the committee, are pilot community-based mental wellness projects in select communities; $200,000 to provide training programs in the prevention of suicide.

Mr. Speaker, I think we all know that a lot more is going to be needed. The good news is that the department has developed a community wellness strategy based on the fundamental truth that we all understand, which is that communities can look after themselves far better than anyone else, that the very good efforts of the government bureaucrats and professionals to help communities from the top-down from outside have not really worked. Mr. Speaker, we're now well placed to harness the resources and the energies of those communities to tackle their own problems.

The only problem, Mr. Speaker, is that perhaps because this wellness strategy has only been developed in recent months and is just being formed and finalized, sufficient monies to implement it are simply not in the budget that is before us. I think we should commend the Premier and the Minister of Finance for being upfront about this; that there was a community action plan or a supplementary social envelope budget amount that was discussed by Cabinet; but, for one reason or other, didn't make it into the main estimates.

There was also some uncertainty about the effect of the federal government, which was also an unknown that perhaps made everyone nervous about committing the sum of $3.3 million that has been identified.

I would say now, Mr. Speaker, that the early indications are that although there are certainly no new dollars in the federal budget and there will be pressures, we will, at least in the coming year, be spared the worst impact we might have feared.

So, Mr. Speaker, my recommendation -- and I guess the most important recommendation I'd make in this reply to the Budget Address -- is let us, now that we know all the facts, now that we know the impact of the federal budget, have the courage to make the community action plan a first call on the supp reserve. I know that the supp reserve has been set aside for inflation, for forced growth, for lapses and other important fiscal considerations, but I would like to say to Members of this House and the Cabinet, I think social issues are even more important than keeping up with inflation. I think we should have the courage to say that we are willing to risk making social issues a first priority over inflation, over allowing for lapses, over some of the fiscal categories that make up the supp reserve. I would urge the Cabinet, who I know is considering this issue tonight, to do the right thing. Finish off the good work this Assembly has done in preparing for a community action plan that will finally start to seriously tackle the social issues that are eating away at our communities and impeding social, economic and political progress, by agreeing that this $3.3 million will be our first charge on the supp reserve that is within this budget.

I, for one, Mr. Speaker, will not be satisfied to put this budget to bed without assurances that that community action fund will be financed. The plan is there, it is crystallized, we will have a chance to debate it in this session. Everything I know about it is a very sound work because it is based on community strengths and resources. So, let's find the money to make it work and make the budget complete. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause