Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the weekend, I was in Inuvik for a constituency visit. Somebody mentioned that I was in the real western Arctic. The sun was shining and it was fairly warm, compared to weather in Yellowknife.
There were lots of activities going on in Inuvik during the weekend. There was a Royal Canadian Legion rally. All the NWT branches were represented there and they were having their meetings at the legion. The Pauktuutit Inuit Women's Association were gathering for their annual general meeting. There were a lot of young athletes in town who were participating in the Inuvik regional winter games training and development camps. The dart league was having a casino; there were the usual bingos; the government had a curling funspiel; there was old timers' hockey in Aklavik; and, even on Saturday night, there was a business meeting of tourism people led by a person from Calgary starting a study on tourism organizations. For a Saturday night, they had over 20 people at the meeting.
I also had lots of opportunities to meet and talk with people. There were a lot of issues and concerns brought up by people, a lot of them revolve around government, social and health issues, education issues and housing issues. My colleagues have been raising issues about the new rent scale and the lack of information. It's no different with some tenants up there, that they're not getting complete information on the proposals.
I've also observed that there's a different air in Inuvik. The businesses seem to be thriving, they're active, there's a period of stabilization and some growth. So all these are real good signs. If we can keep the winter roads open as late as possible this year, it will continue to help the economy of Inuvik.
I just appreciate this chance to talk about my brief visit to my community and note the activities going on there. Mahsi.
---Applause