Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Although it’s highlighted by other Members, as you go along you end up repeating some of the other stuff, but it’s certainly worthwhile repeating.

Mr. Chairman, I’ll first start with the Minister and staff. I find this is a model department when it comes to responding to MLA concerns. I put that out as a compliment and a point of notice to the other departments to make sure they follow this department’s example of timely responses. Even when they can’t get back to you, they let you know. Mr. Chairman, this is a model department.

Mr. Chairman, the other thing is the emphasis on the ability to work with the Minister. Although I don’t sit on the EDI committee, the Minister and his staff are certainly willing to listen to Members such as myself, and I find it very positive. We don’t get a chance to send him little cards of thank you and all those things, but exactly once a year it’s our chance to say they’re listening, and we appreciate it.

One shouldn’t expect emotions, though, Mr. Chairman. I’ve talked to the Minister in the past about this. You know, we don’t see eye-to-eye on this issue, but there’s certainly respect over the problem. Although I respect the work that’s designed and done through the School of Community Government — it’s an extremely valuable service — I would prefer to eventually see it migrate into Aurora College. I stand firm on that issue, because I believe all our college training…. Sorry. Aurora College should provide all our training programs throughout government. You know, it seems odd that we’ll create internal programs that develop training models and whatnot. To me, that defeats the whole purpose of having a college that, I stress…. I think it is our method to move forward on education in the territory, and I truly support what the college represents. Someday I think that will be a reality, but I suspect today won’t be that day.

Mr. Chairman, there’s just one other area I do want to highlight. There will be detailed questions coming forward later on the community emergency management coordinator position. As mentioned by Mr. Ramsay earlier, you have to look no further than the Hay River little disaster, there, with the flooding and whatnot, to see how important his role is in our work and for the protection and readiness of our people. Without this type of expertise at the helm, it makes it very difficult to all-of-a-sudden flip a switch. An average person may be able to grab a textbook, but it’s this type of expertise that knows how to implement these things without unnecessary delay.

The justification I’ll be looking for is how they would have come down to decide that someone in this area isn’t required. I’m sure it’s a matter of just getting some details. I’m sure it won’t be long before the Minister realizes the error of his ways.

But that’s it, Mr. Chairman; I’d hate to see us lose that skill and ability. Ultimately, it puts not just one community but all our communities at risk, which puts our territory at risk. You take that skill and coordination away and, like I say, the service just turns into a textbook. We could make the same argument for most other services we provide. But, you know, we really need the skilled eye, the human touch in these things. When that phone call comes in, we need someone ready to go who is familiar and experienced in this area.

Mr. Chairman, there is one last note I almost forgot to mention. I do want to highlight and discuss the good work done regarding municipal funding. Our mayor here in Yellowknife has spoken in his role as the municipality’s president. They speak in favour of this budget because of what support it offers municipalities. The New Deal is coming forward in a positive way, as I understand it.

Mr.

Chairman, this is good work for our

communities in that even when times are tough, in times of cuts, the communities are protected, because they have a smaller avenue to raise revenues and to adjust to changes as quickly as we could possibly deal with them.

With that said, Mr. Chairman, I thank committee for the time for my opening comments. I will have very interesting and detailed questions regarding that community emergency management coordinator. Like I say, although I don’t think we’re getting into that detail tonight, let’s give the Minister one more night to sleep on it and maybe change his mind.