Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on an initiative the Minister of Health and Social Services just spoke about, and that is early childhood development and the work of this government.

Mr. Speaker, it is an important area to focus on and try to help out as a government, to be out there doing our part to ensure that families start off in a healthy and secure environment.

Mr. Speaker, with a lot of the initiatives that have been started to date, one could say we were tinkering or working around the edges of media campaigns. I would be interested in how the Minister is going to respond when I ask him later about what is in a child development resource kit or a healthy family kit.

Mr. Speaker, the important thing is that we do have to give parents, especially new parents and those looking at families, information to understand what can occur during a pregnancy, because a lot of our problems in the Northwest Territories, we have heard it for a number of years now and there has been some work started in the area of FAS/FAE. It is something that we have to try and stop. It is something that is completely preventable if all of the precautions are taken. Mr. Speaker, it is not something that is hereditary. It is a result of one's actions while being pregnant.

Mr. Speaker, I have heard suggestions that as a government if we are going to really do something and really make a difference, we are going to have to get tough with how we treat and look at these situations. It is no longer good enough to work around the edges, so to speak, Mr. Speaker, we need to get to the core of the problem and start trying to do something as a government and possibly even look at legislation in some cases, to see what we can do as a government to prevent this kind of occurrence from continuing.

It would take strong political will to try and move in these areas because we would have the very same situation as trying to impose wills on people who have the freedom of choice when it comes to what they do and how they carry on with their own lives. Here in the Northwest Territories we have bad examples of what happens when mothers take to drinking while they are pregnant and the rest of society has to pick up the tab, so to speak, and try to work with those children who are left to deal with the problems that occur as a result of FAS/FAE. I will have questions for the Minister. Thank you.

-- Applause