Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it has been very noticeable that the Minister of Health has been before us all this week defending her department's budget. As a Member of this House, I do not apologize for the many questions that I have been asking the Minister concerning her department. They are very serious issues that we were speaking about. They are concerns that touch each and every one of my constituents deeply and meaningfully.

As the Minister knows, the recent report, Tuberculosis Controls in the Northwest Territories, was profoundly connected directly to my constituents. Recent news reports and the results of the TB report all point towards a worsening problem that is in our many communities.

Mr. Speaker, I will be questioning the Minister later concerning the report. The report contains 26 recommendations and points towards more need for training, awareness and resources to deal with this alarming health problem in our communities.

Today, Mr. Speaker, I will bring to the attention the alarming statement contained in the highlights of the TB report which notes that "It is unacceptable that the rates of TB in parts of the Northwest Territories are 10 times the rate in the rest of Canada." Mr. Speaker, I will repeat the fact again. In some parts of the Northwest Territories, the rate of TB is 10 times the rate of the rest of Canada.

Mr. Speaker, Dr. Fanning, the consultant who wrote the report, points out that TB is a common disease that has affected other countries world-wide today. The disease has a 90 percent rate of being curable. At that rate, Mr. Speaker, I think that ourselves as a government have to realize that there is no reason in the Northwest Territories that people should be dying of a disease that is curable.

Mr. Speaker, with that, I will be asking the Minister of Health questions with regard to this report. Thank you.

-- Applause