Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to speak in this House to express my deep concern about the federal government's recent move to cut funding for very valuable NGO programs in the North. It is unthinkable to me, Mr. Speaker, that the federal government would cut $17.7 million in literacy funding when 42 percent of Canadians struggle with basic reading and writing. It should be a great concern to all northerners that, between just four groups, NWT Literacy Council, Volunteers NWT, Smart Communities and the French Cultural Association, our community will lose or has lost $1 million from these cuts. This is not including the cuts in the Smoking Cessation Program as something we know is a huge problem for us.

Mr. Speaker, ask anyone in the NWT community and they will tell you how unbelievably significant the large amount of dollars is in delivering programs at the community level and making differences in people's lives. Mr. Speaker, the cuts and the impact of this goes on and on. Mr. Speaker, I was there this summer when Prime Minister Harper spoke at the Great Hall. He suggested that we, the people of the NWT, have to show the rest of Canada and the rest of the world that we are ready for business and we can do so by approving the pipeline.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to suggest that this relationship is supposed to be two-way. He needs to show that he understands the northern needs and northern communities if he wants to do business with us. Mr. Speaker, I would suggest that he shows this by reversing the cuts. If he wants us to do it ourselves, I would suggest to him that he gives us a viable, sensible and substantial deal on resource revenue sharing and devolution before he gets his pipeline. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause