Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the NWT is a place of wide diversity. Within our boundaries, you can go from the forests of the South Slave to the wind swept tundra of the Keewatin to mountains both east and west. We have a broad range of renewable and non-renewable resources and the people come from a variety of cultural backgrounds. We also have diversity in other ways. We have the most highly educated city in Canada right alongside communities very close by with low education levels. We have communities with active private sectors and others where the only business in town is the government. Some communities have larger populations of young people. As my colleague for the High Arctic pointed out, the cost of living varies greatly in the different communities. Where we often fail to recognize the differences is in the policies and programs of this government. In policy after policy, we seem to take a broad brush approach. Programs like student financial assistance, public housing, seniors' programs and affirmative action seem to be the same no matter what the nature of the community or region they are directed to. They do not recognize the differences such as cost of living and many other unique factors.
One of the few departments which seems to recognize the differences is the Department of Economic Development, which defines different levels of community development. This allows the government to develop programs for each of the different levels. Mr. Speaker, it is important to have policies which give a general framework for programs and services of this government. Yes, they should be broad. However, they should also have provisions which recognize and support the diverse conditions across this vast space that we call the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, later today, I will be asking the Premier how this can be addressed. Thank you.