Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I, too, have issues, especially from small communities. I know a lot of my colleagues in small communities raised the issue on capacity challenges we have. We have issues such as dust control, dealing with programs and services, where in our case we don’t have any. I think it’s important to see...You know, $1.4 million, almost $1.5 million is going to be spent annually on the Dementia Centre in Yellowknife, going forward. The same thing in regard to $540,000 to operate the Territorial Supported Living Campus in Hay River. Yet, in our communities we’re struggling just to maintain nurse...(inaudible)...Minister of Justice is trying to address the issue with policing in Tsiigehtchic. Yet in the area of health we’re still having a lot of problems, especially in the Beaufort-Delta communities.

I think it’s important that as government we have to find systems that are not unique to all, but are basically there to solve the capacity challenges we have in small communities. I think you can throw all the money at the health boards, you can throw all the money at the education boards, but at the end of the day if you don’t have people on the ground delivering programs and services because of challenges such as housing, high cost of living, insecurity in our communities because we don’t have policing. Those issues are bread and butter issues for a large majority of our communities in the Northwest Territories. Almost 18 communities have these challenges, by way of rural and remote communities. I think as government you have to deliver programs and services which are universal to non-urban centres by way of rural communities.

I thank you for the budget, but I think at the end of the day the communities are going to be left on the back burner, trying to find the people to deliver energy plans or programs they’re going to need to identify those capital issues that they want to implement over two years. I think the time frame of two years is unrealistic in a lot of our communities. We have logistical challenges. We have challenges of just getting...I know the Premier mentioned I’m getting a water treatment plant in Aklavik. Well, we’ve been waiting four years for the water treatment plant and it’s still not there. They’re not even working on the site that it’s supposed to go on in the next couple years. Little things, like just trying to find gravel to develop the site is an issue for communities, but the government doesn’t seem to think it’s an issue. I think this government has to find a way to deal with those challenges that we face in small communities. If that means having a separate division that deals with municipal and community affairs for small communities, so be it. I

think we have to think outside of the box when we talk about capital infrastructure.

With regard to the budget that’s in front of us, we do also have to deal with the issue of the commitments or obligations that we have under the federal gas tax, that all communities have to have plans in place in order to access this money after three years. In the last report we saw before committee only three communities concluded their plans in regard to that commitment by way of community energy plans. But for communities the highest cost in O and M for municipalities, regardless of whether it’s hamlets, charter communities or small communities, is the O and M costs in regard to the fundamental cost of operating and maintaining infrastructure in our small communities. Just water deliver costs alone...If we can find a way to reduce the cost in those communities, that’s half their budget. If we can look at ways of finding ways of reducing the cost of treating water, reducing the cost of heating, reducing the cost of distribution such as utilidor systems or whatever water delivery systems you have now, those are areas that communities can save money in.

The communities in my riding are already running deficits. Yet it’s only two years in regard to the agreement that was signed to give them that authority. I think it’s important that we as government have to not wash our hands of them and walk away. The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs has an obligation to ensure the legislation that we passed in this House will really give the communities the tools and have the ability to operate, maintain and run those programs and services after we give them, and look at a 10-year implementation plan so that when they have problems, we will go in there with the staff that we still retain through our government departments to assist them to implement those programs and services.

Again, I think with the ministerial committees that are in place, without being at the table, I think we as communities have lost an opportunity to really say what we’d like to see in regard to capital plans or programs that went to Ottawa in regard to infrastructure or programs. Yet, that’s neither here nor there and I think that’s something that you have to either make a decision on; either take part or sit on the sidelines and wish that we were sitting at the table.

I think, as I stated, the biggest challenge we’re going to face as communities in the next years -- and we’re already seeing it -- is climate change. The amount of flooding that we’ve seen in our communities in the Northwest Territories in the last 10 years has increased in every community. We’ve seen an increase in regard to forest fires. We’ve seen an increase in regard to permafrost. We’ve

seen an increase in effects to infrastructure in all communities.

I think if government does not take hold of this problem and really put money into ensuring the infrastructure that communities have the capacity to deal with things such as floods, build up the communities so that you do have berms around the communities to protect them from floods, drainage systems that have to be there so that when it does flood, you’re able to drain.

But, more importantly, what you see in the United States or what you hear on television happening in Australia will happen here. The temperature is rising and we are going to possibly at some point be in a drought. I think that we can’t kid ourselves that the biggest expenditure to this government is fighting forest fires, fire retention every year. We have to put money into that budget every year since that issue became pretty clear. I think as government, and as communities, and as a Territory we really have to take this issue seriously.

Again, I’m glad that they are looking at these small communities committees going forward, and I think the committees have to start meeting more often. I think we had one little get together and that’s it. I think that if we’re serious about this, this committee should be meeting weekly or even on the weekends. Because this budget that’s in front of us, the challenges we’re facing with issues that were raised by in the 14th Assembly in regards to the

special committee’s report the issues haven’t changed. The issues are still capacity issues that we’re dealing with in regard to finding SAOs, financial officers, planners, land developers. You name it, those issues are still there and I think we do have to seriously look at those issues.

Again, I think it’s important that we as government look at the energy side of things. I’d like to thank the Minister in regard to looking at the energy side of where we’re going with regard to green energy. I think the programs we have to deliver have to be universal. We can’t just cherry pick communities and say, well, you’re going to get it because you’re a nice guy, but I’m a nice guy too. I think it’s important that we find a system that’s universal for all communities on the river system. There’s no reason that we can’t have a plan in place to implement some sort of a system in all communities that are adjacent to a river. Find a way that we can use that water that flows past our communities from April right until October, and get off diesel fuel during those times of the year from solar power. It’s doable. We can save a lot of fossil fuels being used during those times of the year where we don’t really have to use it. I think there’s ways that we can deal with this for those communities that are already on the river systems.

I know the Minister of ITI mentioned earlier about different initiatives that are out there. I think from our trip to Manitoba and seeing exactly what’s being done there, there’s no reason that we can’t do the same thing here. It doesn’t have to be large-scale hydro projects which are going to cost us hundreds of millions of dollars. I think this is something that we really seriously have to look at. I think in regard to reducing costs of living in communities, that’s one area that we can seriously make a difference for our communities.

The other area in regard to reducing the cost of living is improving infrastructure. I know the airports are one thing that we can look at so we can get bigger aircraft into our communities. Again, we do have to be able to allow communities access year-round.

I know I’ve raised the issue about the Peel River Bridge and I think realistically there’s no reason that that bridge should have been built when they built the highway. The Department of Public Works, the federal department had a plan in place to put a bridge in place in 1967. Yet it hasn’t been done for $6 million. Yet, we’re talking today of $70 million. So again that issue I will be discussing more about again. Those are some of the issues I have and I think that we have to work together and move forward. Mahsi.