Mr. Speaker, I’d like to respond to the Minister’s statement in regard to reducing the cost of living. There are a lot of good things in the statement, but I think we’ve got to face reality. There are differences by way of geographical differences in the North. We all have different costs associated with logistics: moving goods and services, the high cost of energy and the high cost to operate in a lot of our communities and regions throughout the Northwest Territories. I think we have to be realistic when we deliver programs and services, that they can actually fit every community in every region in the Northwest Territories — which, realistically, we know they don’t. We can talk about highway strategies; we can talk about hydro strategies. But at the end of the day, if it’s only going to please the few in the southern part of the Northwest Territories and do very little for the people in the North, I think it’s no longer a strategy; it’s simply a reality that basically does not fit.
We talk about reducing the cost of living in the communities where we all know the highest cost is, where the highest operational costs are, and where there are the highest costs of goods and services for individuals to purchase. Yet I hear we’re looking
at the possibility of conversions to gas and other types of energy initiatives, like hydro. I think before we jump into that basket we should learn from the experience in Inuvik by way of the conversion process or learn from the experience in Norman Wells, where they became too dependent on gas. When the tap gets turned off, there’s a major cost to convert.
The other issues were on transportation. We talk about connecting our communities. The only thing I see is connecting existing highways by a chipsealing program on existing infrastructure and very little by way of really connecting communities — in particular, the gravel sources around our communities, Tuk and Aklavik, that I moved a motion on in this House. Yet, again, there’s nothing in the statement about that type of connecting communities — gravel sources and connecting us to existing highway systems. I think it’s critical that we do things by way of consensus, but again we’re being told on this side of the House: This is the way it is. This is what the government is going to do. Here’s your check sheet. That’s exactly where they’re going, with no consultation from this side.