Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, health and social services has been on my mind and on the mind of my constituents quite a bit as of late. Mr. Speaker, I have come to see health and social services like a vehicle. The Minister and the department provide the steering and the engine with their money and their legislation and their regulation. Mr. Speaker, the health boards are the tires. They are where the rubber hits the road. They are what delivers the programs to the people in the communities.

Mr. Speaker, we all know that this vehicle is experiencing some significant mechanical problems. It is burning oil. Its gas mileage is not very good. We are enveloped in clouds of smoke and there is rattling and banging noises as it grinds away trying to take care of business.

Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, rather than going to a qualified, northern, full-service garage, the department decided to go south to a consultant, a specialist. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, it turns out that this consultant's specialty was in shredding tires.

Lo and behold, once he looked at the vehicle, he said, "The tires are the problem." As we sit here, coughing and gasping in the smoke, pouring oil and money constantly into the engine trying to keep it running, which seems to spend, with steering problems, a lot of its time going in and out of the ditch.

Mr. Speaker, the people in my constituency are greatly concerned about the state of this vehicle that is so important to them and the programs and services that are so critical to the people of the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, what we are seeing and hearing from the department does not provide much comfort that things are well in hand.

I would hope that the Minister would not be bound to implement the recommendations of her southern consultant and taking things at face value. The people are watching and are not blind. The people are definitely not stupid when it comes to what programs are important to them and how they want to see them delivered in their communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause