Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Something that has already been mentioned in relation to other departments is cumulative impacts of fees, costs and taxes that the government imposes on people in order to deliver services. This budget is no exception. However, to a degree perhaps greater than most, there are several areas of new or progressing costs in the area of government services, Mr. Chairman, that seem kind of alike.

Of course, the one that stands out the most, although it is not technically before this committee or Assembly to approve, would be the toll on highways which, in direct or indirect ways, would be an expense that people would have to deal with. However, we are also looking at this government wanting to bring in a five percent hotel tax. This is at the same time as we are all facing rapidly changing prices for energy of all kinds, automotive fuels, heating fuels and electricity bills.

So in that area and in general comments, Mr. Chairman, I would try to bring some attention to what is going on within this budget. The Department of Transportation bills its share of this. So a lot of attention, as I say, has been focused on the highway toll, but I think it is worth highlighting, and we will get to it in a greater level of detail later on.

In the area of airport fees, motor licensing fees, and a number of small areas there that, according to the budget documents, would see an additional $800,000 or $900,000 collected, Mr. Chairman, if these are to be approved. Again, I would contrast those increases to the cost of travelling and the cost of getting around the North to the hotel tax, which will raise around the same amount of money but has received many times the attention that these changes would.

It is also a bit of a concern, Mr. Chairman, that in the same fiscal year, the government is proposing bringing one new layer of fees in and expanding another one, which largely comes from the same pocket and that is the traveller around the Northwest Territories.

So it is a cumulative impact that concerns me, Mr. Chairman. It is something that I am trying to hold to, to something that I said when I was campaigning and that was that I would be very, very careful and conservative about anything that was going to come along that would increase the cost of living in the Northwest Territories if this government had some control over it. So that is where I am finding a concern.

The other area that I just wanted to double-check was that the government is bringing in $10.6 million this year on the Highway Improvement Strategy, as the first of four years, in the total of about $100 million. So we are being asked to approve that. I guess I am also reminded, Mr. Chairman, that something we are not being asked to approve, we do not have the bills yet or nearly enough information, is the toll itself. So while we can talk about as much as we support or like or are concerned with the toll itself and the impact on our economy, it is not before us in this budget.

We will have to wait until I think June at the earliest, as the Minister has indicated, planning a legislative proposal that would come forward to committee by May. Perhaps then we will look to actually vote on it in June. So on one hand here, we are being asked to approve the start of a very major expenditure, while we still have to deal in the future with how it is going to be paid for.

So having pointed that out, and I think that I have my ducks lined up on that, I am already on record in this Assembly, Mr. Chairman, as saying that I support the overall budget, and especially this initiative, as investment that the Northwest Territories needs right now. Let us not pull back. Let us not hesitate at this time. This is indeed what we need to see here.

With that, Mr. Chairman, that concludes my general comments. I look forward to getting into detail. Thank you.