Thank you. I’d like to welcome everybody back to the House. Mr. Speaker, our constituents are reaching out to each and every one of us in this House to improve the economic nightmare we are all going through in regard to the recession, the high costs of living, power costs, energy costs and, more importantly, the overall costs of living in the Northwest Territories. People are talking in our communities and in our ridings about this government’s direction in regard to income supplementary programs, dealing with the supplementary health benefits which are basically putting more pressure on our seniors, and board reform which isn’t really needed at this time, also housing in general, from social housing to homeownership. We have to wake up to the political reality of the economic situation we find ourselves in today.

The federal government and every government around the world are trying to find ways to work their way out of the recession. We have to do everything we can to improve the quality of life for the residents of the Northwest Territories and not continue to bail out companies that are not present

in the Northwest Territories to the tune of $30 million plus.

Mr. Speaker, we do have to find initiatives that will stimulate the economy today. We have to look at the possibility of looking at tax reform, looking at reducing the cost of fuel in our communities and also looking at the number one cost in the communities which is power. I know there’s talk about a joint arrangement in regard to a purchase deal with ATCO Power, but the overall issue is what are we going to do for the residents of the Northwest Territories to improve the cost of living.