Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the knowledge of the Dene and Metis of the Sahtu, we recall that the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s was a time when the approach of the federal governments of the day regarding firefighting was very much an approach of using manpower at the ground level. We have come to a stage where, last summer, our people realized that we spend excessive amounts of money fighting fires. Last summer, I believe, we spent in excess of $25 million. Most of the fires in the Sahtu were extensive. Huge areas of land were burned and scorched, in spite of the high-tech approach we took. In spite of the bombers and huge numbers of aircraft and people involved, the land burned anyway.
People have asked over the last two winters, what difference does it really make whether we have bombers? The land didn't all burn during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Last year, in spite of the great support given to firefighting by bombers and choppers, there were huge tracts of land which burned anyway. As the MLA for the Sahtu, I know that many of the people at the community level would welcome any change to give people at the community level an avenue through which their suggestions for change and observations on how to get a more community-oriented approach to dealing with fires, would be related to the government.
It is this message that has been getting through to our communities, particularly in the last three weeks: that there are possibilities for change, where we don't have to feel that the drier our country gets, the more broke this government is going to get; and the more our country burns, the less money we'll have for other essential services because of the high-costing, but ineffective, means we take to fight fires. Thank you.