Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to welcome all my colleagues back for the next few weeks of hard work. We have had a bit of a break from the House over the last few months however our work is never done. With the number of activities that took place in most regions this summer I am sure most of us did not get much of a rest. It was however comforting to be with friends and family.

During this session we will be dealing with many issues that are effecting us and our constituents. We must be diligent and in some cases imaginative to ensure our people are receiving the best that we can offer.

Some areas of concern I have included, community empowerment. I would like to make sure that when transfers take place, there are enough resources to provide the services effectively, not give the transfer group less and be expected to do more.

Finding a way to control bootleggers in our communities is another issue that I think needs to be addressed. It seems most accidents and crimes are committed by individuals under the influence of alcohol and in most cases this is probably brought by the local bootlegger in the community. If we want our communities to prosper we must find ways to remove this burden. As you know, Rae-Edzo residents passed a plebiscite recently, restricting the amount of alcohol allowed by a person per month. This was brought into effect on September 15, 1996 and it is still rather early to tell how it will work, but I feel if given the support by the RCMP, the Department of Justice, as well as the various organizations in Rae-Edzo this will be the first step in ridding our community of this problem.

I know there are many issues that we will be discussing over the next while and I also hope our discussion will be meaningful and productive. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause