Mr. Speaker, yesterday I spoke on the rate increase in the NWTPC and the strain it was causing to the residents of Inuvik. I'd like to speak to another subject today that's also causing some strain to the residents of Inuvik.

We had a meeting earlier this year, and we were informed that our supply of fuel didn't make it into the community and that fuel was going to have to be trucked in. This happened a couple of times before, but what we were told at the meeting was that the cost was going to be passed on to the consumers, the residents of Inuvik, and that's where I have an issue. We heard, “It was their fault, their fault.” They're pointing fingers back and forth. The bottom line is, I don't care whose fault it is. What I care about is the costs being passed on to

the people that we represent, and that's what my main concern is in this whole thing.

The attitude of one of the two people who were blaming each other is, “If they don't like it, they don't have to live there.” We've lived there all our lives, and we're not going to move out of there because the price of fuel went up. That's a rotten attitude to have.

What I care about are the seniors that pay their own fuel that are hit with an additional cost. I have an example here, where the cost of fuel for one senior paying his own fuel went up 30 per cent in one year. That’s in addition to the 15 per cent I talked about yesterday.

I said yesterday, Mr. Speaker, they’re trying to price us out of the N.W.T., but it’s not going to happen. And I really don’t care whose fault it is. I want these outfits to resolve their issues amongst themselves and not pass the extra cost increase on to the consumer, Mr. Speaker. Again, we had nothing to do with it, yet we’re the ones who are having to pay the extra costs of trucking all this fuel in Inuvik over the Dempster Highway. I hope they have a safe trip up.

Mr. Speaker, you know, the senior who has to pay his own fuel…. It’s a burden on them, and this is a burden on the government. We have an obligation, Mr. Speaker. Even though this is all private enterprise, I believe this government has an obligation to protect the residents in Northwest Territories from situations like this. I’ve always been a big supporter of the pipeline, Mr. Speaker. But more and more I see the attitude of some of the proponents. I’m starting to wonder if that’s the right attitude to have.