Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for the last three years plus, I and a number of my colleagues have continued to make the case that the Yellowknife Campus of Aurora College needs additional classroom space, needs parking and it certainly, absolutely, needs student housing. We were, I think, reassured or relieved and saw at least some ray of hope when we discussed the project in Inuvik that's going forward and the fact that the Minister was prepared to work with the private sector in Inuvik to address some of the housing needs, despite the fact that he didn't have the capital money at that time to build dormitories. I think that my colleagues and I saw that as an opportunity and had hoped to get the same flexibility and same response and accommodation from the Minister in Yellowknife.

Six or so months ago, Mr. Speaker, I wrote to the Minister, as did a number of my colleagues -- Mr. Braden, Ms. Lee, Mr. Dent -- about the need for classrooms, parking and student housing in Yellowknife. The Minister did acknowledge that there was a critical shortage and certainly students who were coming in from out of town are on a waiting list to get into accommodations in Yellowknife and often have to put up with less-than-ideal housing situations because we have such a shortage. He did note that the housing market is very tight in Yellowknife and it's difficult to find arrangements with private landlords at this point. We do know things are softening.

Mr. Speaker, I hope the Minister is prepared to work in this capacity. I'll have questions for him today about this and about what he's been able to do to date. I'd like to remind the Minister that before we get into this I expect that he'll tell us the government understands the concern, feels our pain, but there's a process, there's business planning, there's main estimates, et cetera, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to remind the Minister that, before we hear that and before we see that argument rolled out, we continue to deal with supplementary requests month after month in this House that are for operational funding that obviously should have been planned for, could have been planned for. So when there are priorities we seem to find the will and the way to get things done. I'd like to remind the Minister of that.

We know the problem is being further compounded by a system-wide housing shortage due to the closures of a couple of buildings in Fort Smith. Things are not getting better for the college and for our post-secondary students. I'll have questions for the Minister about this in question period. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause