Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to welcome everybody back to Yellowknife. My statement today is in the area of the social envelope. The social envelope, as we all know, includes the Departments of Education, Culture and Employment, Health and Social Services, Justice, and Housing.

Mr. Speaker, every year, forced growth eats up a lot of our dollars. Last year, we had to reduce the social envelope's budget by almost $40 million. What we mean by forced growth is the cost that we cannot control because of a high birth rate which relates to higher health and education costs and those related areas. This year will be no exception. We will have huge forced growth in and around $30 million to $40 million. This means that unless there is an increase in the social programs area, there will have to be more cuts. Cuts that are tougher than the ones that were made last year. We have been told that the cuts that were made were the easy ones.

Last year, the majority of the Members agreed that each department's budget would be maintained at the same percentage of their overall budget as the previous year. That meant that if Education, Culture and Employment had 15 percent of the overall budget in 1995/96, Education, Culture and Employment had to have 15 percent of the budget in 1996/97.

Mr. Speaker, we also agreed that we would not balance the budget on the backs of those who can least afford it. Unfortunately, because by this we were frozen at the same percentages, tough decisions had to be made in the social programs area.

Rents were increased for seniors in personal care facilities. The fossil fuel subsidy was entirely deleted for some seniors, with no consideration for higher costs of living in certain areas.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.