Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this past week, the town of Iqaluit, held a community wellness and strategy workshop.
It was a great success. Part of the workshop was a visiting process, to see where we wanted our community to be over the next decade. In conjunction with the workshop was a fashion show and other activities. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the organizers, Madeline Darg, Rosemary Cooper, Mary Willman, and the rest of the committee for a job well done.
Some people would like us to think that Iqaluit is the fat cat with jobs and businesses taking off. Some people think that Iqaluit is a community of largesse. Mr. Speaker, Iqaluit is one of the fastest growing communities in the territories. However, the facts are, our homeless shelter is full every night, Salvik is operating a soup kitchen with a demand continuing to increase, we are short over 70 social housing units, the only work available is either directly or indirectly related to government. The retail store sales are down. Are these indicators of a rich community? I think not.
Mr. Speaker, there have been 37 suicides in our community over the past 10 years. Some bergerites in this Assembly would like us to believe that Iqaluit is a dark hole, sucking in all the jobs and opportunities. The bergerites would like us to think that Iqaluit is not doing its fair share with the deficit reduction plans. Mr. Speaker, losing over 50 positions, having our capital budget slashed based in a community that is completely dominated by government, is doing its fair share.
I was elected to represent the constituency. I cannot, will not, roll over and play dead when statements are being made in and out of public which are not true and are exaggerated. I would invite any and all members of this Assembly to come to our community and see first hand our situation. Innuendo is cheap, Mr. Speaker, and should not be the basis on which decisions are being made. When I return home I will convey to the people using the soup kitchen and the people staying in the homeless shelter how well off we are supposed to be -- that is according to the uninformed statements made by the bergerites and others. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.