Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we all know, we have a budget before us. We have, basically, a document that was produced and developed by this government and put out for public viewing. But again, we as Members on this side of the House have had very little — for a lot of these initiatives — by way of our priorities for the 16th Assembly. How do we illustrate and interpret our views when we basically established these priorities?

Going through the budget, it’s clear that this interpretation is clouded by Members on the other side of the House compared to Members on this side of the House when it comes to exactly how you interpret how to improve the quality of life and services for people in our communities — more importantly, reducing costs of living, managing our land and other elements that are in this budget.

We all have to face the reality that we have some major crises out there — that, realistically, issues are in communities. The struggles people are facing and the challenges Northerners are coping with day in and day out, for most of them, are basically dealing with the struggle of paying their bills, heating their homes and trying to raise their children to have a good future.

With regard to this budget, a lot of the focus seems to be on government bureaucracy taking control over what it thinks it should do versus what it really has to do to improve the quality of life for people in the Northwest Territories, developing bureaucracy to a point where, basically, we need more people. We need more people to tell us how to manage our land versus asking the people who already use the land, own the land and already have systems in place on management of those lands.

For someone who has been involved in land-claim settlements, negotiations of lands the First Nations people own outright…. People have control over those lands through their land-administration bodies, which are basically land-management regimes, through land-use planning, land and water boards, environmental review boards and also even inside with regard to the regulatory boards out there. We are implementing services to try to find a way to develop the bureaucracy to manage something that, I feel, is the federal government’s responsibility. Until we devolve that authority to this government, what are we doing trying to build up the bureaucracy? We’re cutting jobs and people’s livelihoods in the meantime, yet we’re trying to argue for government to get more jobs in these areas. I think that is totally opposite from this exercise of reducing our budget.

There have been several attempts made to find ways of reducing the cost of living. The most essential aspect of reducing the cost of living in communities is dealing with the high cost of energy: the fuel costs to heat your homes, the fuel costs to generate your power, the cost in regard to mobility by way of road, air and river. Those things don’t seem to be even included in this budget process. If anything, we’re talking about chipsealing highways and being able to look at ways of developing hydro strategies for big industry, at a tune of $385 million by way of the Taltson expansion.

I, for one, feel we have to do a better job of helping not only big business but the residents of the Northwest Territories to deal with the rates we pay — the high energy costs. I think we have to realize we have an unfair regulatory power program in the Northwest Territories.

I believe that also includes the way communities are treated when it comes to housing, by way of programs and services, and how they determine rents in communities, power rates in communities and, more importantly, the cost of living in communities. I think it’s important that we, as government, find ways to reduce those costs but also look at alternative energy means in communities. We have the basic infrastructure, we have the resources, yet we continue to focus on big business. We’re not really doing anything to improve the lives of people in communities.

In regard to a particular item I’ve raised in this House time and time again…. I passed a motion. I know I made an issue of it a couple of weeks ago. Again, it’s accessing gravel sources around communities. Gravel is an essential element for any building block of a community. You need gravel to build your roads. You need gravel to build the paths to walk on. You need gravel to basically deal with the shoreline erosion, floods and other issues that are in front of us.

But I notice in this budget that the community of Aklavik has been left out of this endeavour. This government is not listening to Members on this side of the House when motions are passed unanimously in this House giving them direction on where they should go, what they should look at and, more importantly, being able to make a difference to this government. I do take issue with the way capital is being put on a list and sent to Ottawa. It’s like watching people sitting around a room, making the decision of what they think should be on the list but not asking us as Members on this side of the House if we have any ideas of what should be on that list and what should be sent to Ottawa. I’ve been hearing about it after the fact.

I believe that we, as Members of the 16th Assembly,

have to do a better job to improve that relationship between ourselves as Regular Members and Members on the Cabinet side of the House, and also ensure that whatever we do is fair and equitable. I feel we should have a program in place that’s fair to all 32 communities by way of a system that would allow communities to say what they want. It would also give them the resources to take on programs and services and build capital infrastructure — such as we did with the Building Canada Fund by way of allowing communities to pick, among themselves, what projects they want — and give them the resources to work with by way of base-plus funding. This was done last year and the year before. I believe that was a program that has seen a lot of success in all our communities throughout the Northwest Territories.

The other issue in regard to refocusing government: I believe we do have to restructure and refocus government and improve regional programs by way of government services being delivered at the regional level — not all at headquarters. We’ve seen it happening in Nunavut; we’ve seen it happen in other places in Canada. In most of our regions the government is the biggest employer in a lot of these regional centres. The same thing applies to our communities. It’s just as important that we, as government, take a step back and ask ourselves, Should we be spending $487 million in salaries and benefits and the costs associated with the employment of people in this government? How can we better extend those dollars to the programs and services we do have and re-evaluate those programs and services to see where they’re going?

In regards to mental health and alcohol and drug programs, we heard the Minister of Health and Social Services state earlier that they’re going to reassess alcohol and drug programs in communities. I think maybe she should also reassess the alcohol and drug specialists at the regional level and at headquarters. These were never part of the original plan to begin with, yet they’ve all grown legs. They’re all part of the bigger picture of expending public funds on people who sit in the regional offices. It ain’t doing anything for people in communities by way of programs and services.

If the Minister is going to do anything by way of assessing community programs, maybe she should start at headquarters and the regional level to see exactly what these people are doing if there are no programs and services in communities.

Mr. Speaker, there’s also an item in regard to capital infrastructure in this government. Yes, we have to look at the major infrastructure challenges we face by bringing down the cost of living, such as large-scale hydro development — as I mentioned, the Taltson project.

If we’re going to do it to benefit industry, industry should pay. I know I’ve raised it several times in this House. It was raised in the 13th Assembly when we

had the same financial problem: coming forward with a resource tax and taxing resources that are leaving the Northwest Territories. We will not see royalties or revenue sharing by the federal government in the lifetime of this Legislature, yet we continue to let the diamond industry and the oil and gas industry basically rape and pillage our land, take all of our resources out of the Northwest Territories and make billions of dollars in the meantime. We’re struggling to develop basic programs and services for people in the Northwest Territories.

I think it’s about time this government dusted off the legislation, brought it forward to this House, had a debate in this House, had a debate with Northerners, people in the Northwest Territories. Let us say exactly what we think we should be doing and quit being dictated by the big industry and the mining sector.

We do have a threat. I think everybody is thinking, Oh, well, it’s not really here. It is here. We have a threat from the environmental challenges we face in the Northwest Territories — with global warming, with major developments that are basically pouring toxins into our water system, with the Mackenzie River watershed. We’ve got industries that are basically sitting in these watersheds and looking at developing uranium. We are not hearing a peep from this government in regard to how it affects, or the toll it’s going to have on, our people in the future. I believe those effects are already apparent

from what we see happening in Fort Chipewyan and also in what we see happening with our animals, fish and migratory birds in the Northwest Territories. We sit here and don’t even say a peep in regard to what is happening.

There was a major oil spill in Norman Wells. We never heard a statement from the Minister of Environment or any Minister in regard to the impact on the residents upstream from Norman Wells, by way of the Mackenzie Delta, and the communities along the Mackenzie. We sit here and talk about devolving power to ourselves from Ottawa, but we’re stooges of the Ottawa government when it comes to doing anything that really will benefit the people of the Northwest Territories and mean not being dictated by the federal government.

I, for one, Mr. Speaker, feel that land claims are important documents. If anything, they supersede the legislation in this House. Yet when it comes to land claims and living up to those obligations this government signed on to, it seems we just ignore the land claims once they’re negotiated and sort of forget about them. We’re off trying to save…. We’re going to manage the land. We’re going to basically set up squatter’s policies and dictate how those lands could be controlled. But the First Nations groups of those areas haven’t even settled their land claims, and this government is going forward with squatter’s legislation in an area that the claim hasn’t been settled in.

These people have rights — their treaty rights and also the modern treaties by way of land claims and land and management rights that basically supersede that. We are involved in a regulatory review process with the federal government. The federal government is undermining those obligations under the land-claim agreements. The regulatory systems we have in the Northwest Territories are those established under Mackenzie Valley Resources Management Act and were established through land-claim settlements. Those settlements are constitutionally protected under section 35 of the Canadian Constitution, yet we find ourselves in the quandary of having someone from Ottawa or the federal government dictating to the Northwest Territories — the First Nations groups that have land claims — how they’re going to automatically change the system without consulting the people who, in the first place, basically put them there.

It’s critical that we, as government, do everything we can to deal with the issue I touched on earlier in regard to poverty. It’s sad to say we have homeless people in communities. It’s sad to say we have drug abuse problems in communities. There’s crack cocaine; there’s crystal meth. Every type of drug is now appearing in our communities. It’s affecting our young people. It’s affecting the population of our younger generations. The major population in the

aboriginal community…. Fifty per cent of our population is under the age of 25. Those people are the ones we are looking at to be our future leaders — the individuals who are hoping to take advantage of the economic well-being of the Northwest Territories. If we don’t take hold of this problem, the costs associated with that will cost the government by way of medical services and mental health services, and jail and justice costs will increase drastically.

Mr. Speaker, the budget talked about the Mackenzie Highway Project in regard to looking at how we can develop that. We have to take on the challenge of building a major piece of infrastructure. We’re looking at a $1.8 billion project that is probably the biggest project in the Northwest Territories next to the pipeline. Yet we have to do it in a way that, at the end of it all, we as residents do not have to pay for the major costs associated with that project.

I know there were a lot of discussions around the area in regard to the Deh Cho Bridge. I think it’s important to realize we have to wake up to the reality of how you generate revenues to build major infrastructures. We do have to look at P3s. We have to look at partnerships. We have to take a look at the costs associated with operating, maintaining and leasing pieces of infrastructure — regardless of whether it is a ferry, a road or a public piece of infrastructure — and find new ways of financing it.

Mr. Speaker, again, I think it’s essential that we, as government, and we, as Members of this 16th Assembly…. If you really want to make a difference, we have to do things differently. I’ve been here since the 13th Assembly, and we went

through a process back then. Like I stated earlier in the week, in some cases nothing’s changed. Basically, because of those decisions, we are still living with the consequences of selling off public housing in communities. We are living with the problems in relation to capacity in government to deliver programs and services. Yet we continue to do the same things over and over and over, not realizing we are continuing to spin our wheels, with no real goals or objectives and achievements — in light of things we have done wrong — and, more importantly, improved programs and services.

Mr. Speaker, I think we do have to work together as Members of the 16th Assembly. We do have a

budget in front of us. As Members on this side of the House, a large majority of Members on this side do not agree with this budget. I, for one, do not support this budget the way it is laid out. But, again, realizing that we have four years in front of us, we hope we can really work together to make a difference for the benefit of people in the Northwest Territories and not continue to play the game of them and us. You guys are over there; we’re over

here. You guys have the hammer and we have the peanuts. All you have to do is hit the peanuts with the hammer and you think you can get away with it. I’m telling you right now: you ain’t gonna get away with it.