Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my statement today is around the whole area of core programs and program delivery on behalf of this government. Mr. Speaker, the frustration we have in our small communities is the lack of capable support staff in our communities; people who assist people with problems.

I heard the Minister of Health and Social Services with regard to a statement he made to the Native Women's Association. He stated there are four core problems that we have in the Northwest Territories: we don't eat right; we drink too much; we smoke too much; and, we do not exercise enough.

Mr. Speaker, it's great for the Minister to state that, but in most of our communities, we realize that alcoholism and abuse of other things such as drugs and also the effects of being unemployed and living on income support is a core problem in our communities.

This government knows without having people in the communities to assist when someone wants to go to an alcohol and drug program..... The frontline worker is the first person you want to see. It's either the mental health workers, the alcohol and drug worker, or the nurse, or a doctor to assist you to deal with these core problems. Yet, for the Minister to stand out there and say well, if you just quit doing these things it's going to disappear; well, it isn't.

This government has a responsibility to ensure that we have alcohol and drug workers in our communities. I raised a question in this House going on five months ago about a problem in Aklavik where they do not have an alcohol and drug worker. It's going on two years now that they have not had that position filled. Yet the Minister can stand out there and make it sound like these problems, if we just snap our fingers, are going to disappear. But they aren't going to disappear.

This Minister has a responsibility to ensure that the core problem programs in our communities are funded by the dollars that are allocated to those programs, and to ensure that people are in those positions to assist people in our communities so that they can access core projects such as being able to go to an alcohol and drug treatment program. Before you're even allowed to get an application in, you have to take so many weeks of counselling and prepare yourself to go to a treatment centre. Yet this Minister is totally unaware of what goes on in small communities. I would like to ask the Minister a few questions later on with regard to questions I asked almost four months ago. Maybe I'll have to address them again. With that, Mr. Speaker, I will ask the Minister of Health and Social Services questions that I've asked time and time again with no response.

---Applause