Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I listened with interest to the Minister's statement by the Minister responsible for forest fire management. Mr. Speaker, as we are all aware, the forest fire situation in the western territory is very critical in many areas. The dry winter and very little rainfall this year has caused an extremely dry forest in the north.
I believe one area which our government has to seriously consider working towards is creating fire breaks near many of the communities which are threatened by fire. I recognize that there have been fire breaks created by Fort Norman and Norman Wells. However, our government should consider creating more around other communities which may not have them, but would help firefighters in attacking fires near a community.
I recognize that fire breaks don't fully stop a fire, but it does help the firefighters tremendously when attacking a fire. Many communities along the Mackenzie Valley and south of the lake should have a fire break in the event a fire breaks out and threatens the community.
Mr. Speaker, I know in my area, where it is extremely dry and where our trees are so big compared to this area, once a fire starts, it could be very dangerous. Unfortunately, our forecast for this evening and tomorrow is that we are expecting dry electrical storms and we must be prepared.
We are very fortunate to have the Arctic College heavy equipment program in Fort Smith and I would suggest to this government to encourage using their resources to create fire breaks around communities where they are needed.
Mr. Speaker, not only will this approach give some comfort to my constituency and residents in the north, but it will allow this government to take a proactive approach at addressing one of the most expensive budgetary items in the summer months, which are forest fires. Thank you.
---Applause