Thank you, Madam Chair. Last week, the Minister of Finance introduced this program and I think it is fair to say initially I was not impressed with the direction. The Minister, on Thursday I believe, made some comments and I certainly would view the program in a different light. I think the Minister, on behalf of the government, made some statements which were very fair and honest that this program is not going to answer all the questions of the north. So I certainly appreciate that and I view the program in a different light from those statements. I feel a little disappointed that over the last two years we have cut approximately 1,000 jobs. These were good paying jobs and I understand from my colleagues that they feel that the positions were cut from all communities in the Northwest Territories. They were large disposable income jobs and that is a backbone in any community. I feel it may be a little short of the mark now in trying to go forward to produce 1,000 jobs.

Time will tell. I mean there is an agreement on all parts that this is a short term situation and also that I think the sad part about this is, there is general agreement that when the money runs out, generally in the north, so do the jobs. I believe, Madam Chair, that presently in the north we have had a couple of years of bad news and I certainly agree with the government that it is about time some good news and some rewards were given to the people of the Northwest Territories for all the assistance and support they have given to the deficit reduction work. So from that point of view, Madam Chair, I sincerely hope that the number of jobs that the government are projecting are created and hopefully a number of them will sustain after the monies have run out. Thank you, Madam Chair.