Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is the first time that I have responded to a budget or opening address and I understand that there is a record that has been previously set of three and a half hours, and I am wondering today if I can beat that. Today, Mr. Speaker, I would like to make my reply to the budget address. I would like to focus on one area that pervades and threatens our ability to meet the needs of our constituents both now and in the future. That, Mr. Speaker, is the issue of how we as a government are going to address our social problems, the contingent issue of forced growth and expenditure of the monetary resources of this government in the social envelope.

I was out for dinner last week and the topic of the government came up. One individual, a Yellowknife businessman enquired of me: where do you see yourself making a difference and having input in this government? Where do your interests lie?, he asked me. Without hesitation I stated, as I always have right from the first interview that I did on election night, that I want to apply my energy and experience in the area of social problems. That does not mean that I do not have interest or do not want to contribute in other areas. Unless effectively addressed, these issues while drive the agenda this government in an ever increasing way, to the exclusion of other important issues.

If people are upset about the reductions to capital dollars for community infrastructure now, the future can not get any better if we do not get a handle on our social problems. Every one of us came to this House wanting to make a difference, and for quite a number of us there has been a quick learning curve to manoeuvre. Rules of the House, oral questions, written questions, points of order, points of privilege, and of course, never challenge the Speaker. And we are still learning. This is a beautiful building, but the setting in the House was a little intimidating as we stood to make our first presentations. I asked myself, am I talking to the Speaker, am I talking to other Members? I think I am, but they are too far away and I can not see their eyes. And some of them, Mr. Picco, were obviously speaking to the TV camera.

At first, I felt like my words were just going about 50 feet in the air to the top of the dome up there, but Hansard brought them back down again for everyone to carefully scrutinize. If it were not for the understanding, supportive, and encouraging expressions of the Speaker, I would have surely wondered if anyone was listening at all. I am going to expound on what I truly believe should be the bench mark by which we should judge ourselves and be judged as a government.

I have heard said, over and over in the House, our youth are our most valuable resource. Your children and my children. Our children are our future. We want to create a hopeful and promising future for our children. Mr. Speaker, it is time to stop talking about our children being our most valuable resource and put action to our words. This is the youngest group ever elected to this Legislature and every Member around this table has children. So what I am talking about is going to be easy for them to relate to.

A sure way to stir compassion for our youth is for us to think of them as if they were our own. We have heard some very disturbing news over the past two weeks, of tragedy in at least two families involving young people. As a mother, my heart goes out to the Rabesca and the Murphy family. I am sure, when Rufus Rabesca's mother held him as a baby, she, like every mother, wondered what the future would hold. From a little baby to a little boy going off to school, to a young man leaving to further his education.

And then, one night everything changed. The protective parent in us would like to run out to that snow bank beside that trail and do something, anything, to prevent or reverse such a needless loss, but it is too late. How many more youth will be snatched away with us never knowing what they should or could have been? Since then there has been controversy over the decision to remove four other students from the home boarding program. I am all for accountability and consequences because bearing the consequences of our behaviour is a reality in life, whether we like it or not. If I personally lived in Fort Smith and I had the opportunity, I would be inclined to take those four students in to my home. I realize, Mr. Speaker, this would not be a task for everyone.

First, I would get their attention. Then I would lay down the ground rules which would include imposing strict boundaries until such time as they felt self-esteem and respected themselves enough to impose their own boundaries. Then I would make a commitment to consistently hold my end of our relationship by telling them that nothing short of world catastrophe is going to pre-empt my commitment to them, and what they did to uphold their end of the relationship was entirely up to them. We perpetuate and compound the effect of failed relationships when we discard people and write them off. Mr. Ng announced last week that the Adolescent Solvent Abuse Treatment Program is going to be expanded, and that is good. But programs are not enough. We need to, as we always say, lead by example. Part of leadership is also to motivate.

Here in the House, we work together everyday. Our interaction as colleagues becomes common place. But to the public out there, specifically children and youth, they are looking to us as leaders. It is easy to become disconnected from the perceptions that we portray to the electorate. But they know who we are and they are watching us. One day I was driving up the driveway to the Legislature and I had my seven-year-old with me. She saw a man walking along the driveway up ahead and she said, "Mom, is that John Todd?" I said, "No, but how do you know John Todd?" "Oh, I have seen him on TV," she said. Little kids really like John Todd for some reason. I am not sure if it is because he has an easy last name, or he is just around their height, eye-level.

-- Laughter and applause