Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For the record, Mr. Chairman, even though I have taken on the position of a Minister within this government, I haven't forgotten my roots. I come from a community that is far removed from headquarters and my heart is still there. At the same time, being responsible for the financial end, we have to come up with an appropriate balance or try to come up with a balance. This area is one where as a government we are just beginning to really begin the work of trying to be prepared for the potential impacts of a pipeline. We need to do some of this upfront work, and what you are seeing is a start of what we need to do as a government to be better prepared so we can build a business case so we can look at the community impacts. So it's felt that this is an area that's required so we can do that type of work, so we can assist communities down the road. Again, this is the start. This is where we start to build a plan of how we are going to deal with those impacts that are coming down the road, and departments will use this information in how they need to resource and be prepared for these impacts that come down the road. So the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs can use this information. The Department of Education and the Department of Health and Social Services, all departments will be able to access this information and build the appropriate business plans around them and they would ask for more resources if it shows that there is going to be much more demand for the services we provide today. So we are doing a number of things that are right now going to be helping with that, and this supplementary appropriation includes another couple of key pieces that are required on the front end so we can be better prepared as a government for the impacts of the development that's going to happen here in the Northwest Territories.

As well, within the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, they've done some initial steps. For example, they've hired the regional petroleum advisors in the different regions that will be affected. We've got Fort Simpson, Norman Wells, Inuvik and potentially another community. I believe Hay River is one of the ones identified, as well.

We are taking those steps, but again we need to be more coordinated. This is where each department that has some specific areas needs to be better prepared in planning for the impacts of development that are going to come down the road. If we don't do this, we are going to continue to scramble. We are going to continue to do one piece at a time and try to come up with the best plan. So we felt that this was necessary. This approach is the way to go and, believe me, it's much smaller than departments initially wanted. It was felt that this was what was required at this time to proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.