Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to conclude my statement that I was not able to finish yesterday. Mr. Speaker, as I stated yesterday, the current capital planning process and formula to determine how the GNWT capital investment is spent and which projects receive the priorities is not serving Yellowknife any better than it does other communities. While a more transparent and standardized process could help, I am not sure that getting more justifications of where the little money we have goes is going to make it any less painful for us to accept that some of us will inevitably and perpetually end up at the back of the bus. Mr. Speaker, I believe the fundamental problem lies in the woeful lack of funds we are putting into the capital investment pot. If we are really going to tackle this problem head-on as a consensus Legislature, we need to make some difficult choices together.
Mr. Speaker, I believe we want to make this a priority and agree that we need more capital investment in small communities for job creation. We should look again at what programs we currently have to meet that objective and how well we are doing at it. Perhaps we should look at reprofiling or channelling our money for that purpose. Mr. Speaker, perhaps it is time that we came up with a way to address the situations of rural non-tax-based communities, which are different from the tax-based communities that have capacity to raise some of the money for their infrastructure. Perhaps it is time because the needs of our cities and communities are so divergent and incompatible that two separate capital budgets with different standards and criteria need to be created. I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, the reality of taxing the residents of Yellowknife is not as rosy as it might seem. The reality is that property taxes continue to go up year after year. Many of my constituents are paying more than $4,000 a year just in taxes, yet they continue to see crowded schools, inadequate recreational facilities and no land in the city to build affordable houses. Mr. Speaker, the reality still is that the presence of a territorial jail does not do away with the need for a school and an arena. Yellowknife still needs and should be entitled to its fair share of schools, recreational facilities, municipal infrastructure and land development for houses. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't want to seek any more unanimous consents.
---Applause