Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I just want to take this opportunity to comment on the budget as a whole. I, too, am a strong believer in alternate energy and alternate forms of supply and energy to our homes and to our communities, and I’m pleased to see that our budget does dedicate funds and resources to this effort. We’ve got community initiatives, especially in my riding, that want to do something along these lines. We’ve got geothermal interest in Fort Simpson, biomass support from Jean Marie River, and a few other communities that want to explore and they are currently discussing these needs. Just outside of Fort Liard there is proven heat beneath the ground at about 120 Centigrade, but that’s something that has yet to be explored, as well as the specific mention of testing a run-of-the-river system in Fort Simpson. People are curious and they want to see that. We’ve been talking about it so long and at my public meetings people are saying stop talking and start doing something about it. Many of these initiatives and green projects are

capital intensive and very long term. Like that petition I put forward in the House here today, it was about government doing something today to effect change and to change the high cost of living. That specific project in Fort Simpson is showing people that the government is indeed interested in some action, and wanting and willing to look at different ways of doing business. People are happy to see that.

The ATCO proposal, I don’t know where it’s at. But initiatives like that at least government is trying to do something and move forward to help the people.

The budget doesn’t really talk about this, but the initiative of government going throughout the North and talking about NWT power rates and the NWT Power Corporation, that’s a good initiative and I support that. They continue to do that and get that off the ground as soon as they can.

I’m pleased to see the investment in Highway No. 1 and Highway No. 7. To me it’s the Dehcho Connection that travels from the Fort Providence junction towards the Checkpoint junction and down towards Fort Liard. That’s what that does there, is it creates a loop from Alberta up through Fort Simpson and exiting in B.C. It’s a very scenic route with lots to do and lots to see. The NWT Tourism and several community residents who travel to international trade shows talk about this and support the tourism aspect of our Northwest Territories, which is the Dehcho Connection. It was seriously impeded last year when the highway collapsed, and we don’t want to see that again. We want to see continued improvement. We take this very seriously because we use this highway every day for our transportation needs getting to and from work. Then the additional income that comes from the tourism market during the summer months is very much needed. I’ve raised it in the House, too, about getting it towards a state where we’re actually looking at chipsealing of Highway No. 1 and Highway No. 7. I really would like to see that in a capital plan. It’s not there. I’ve got no expectations that we’ll get it done this year or next year, but the key thing is to identify it as a priority and get it on the capital plan. Our capital plan runs around five, 10, 15 years. I’ll be happy to get it on the far end there. The main thing is that it should be a goal of our government to run towards chipsealing of that highway. I know we’re going to do some other chipsealing projects. The big thing, too, is that the constituents are saying yes, we’ve got a chipsealing project, but it’s continuing to Yellowknife and around Yellowknife. That might be important, but I think the priority should be other highway access communities as well. That’s why I support Highway No. 1 and Highway No. 7 being chipsealed. It’s not for the benefit of Fort Simpson, it’s for the benefit of the North and all Northerners to continue our...ITI

called it the spectacular vision of the North and that’s certainly part of it. I certainly support advances towards that.

I’m concerned that people are not qualifying for the homes that we’re rebuilding. We’ve got to adjust that and take a good, hard look at that. This year’s housing budget, at least for my riding, wasn’t that good. At the same time I do realize that we are behind in providing infrastructure needs. The homes from Nahendeh that are being built this year are quite a bit, only because we couldn’t get them done before. I don’t know if it’s a blessing in disguise kind of thing, but this gives us a real opportunity to catch up and not always be behind in home delivery. So there’s some good projects happening in our region and I support them wholeheartedly. The thing is one of my other larger communities of Fort Liard the real need is not so much homeownership, it’s that we have to start moving towards public housing in a place like Fort Liard so people can get into those homes and not have an affordability issue.

I’ve always said that our range, our threshold income guideline is very low. There’s only a certain amount of people who can qualify for these homes. I would say that the people that can’t afford them are the ones we should be lending the money to. These are the people who are hard working. They do want to invest in homes and they do want to make continuous payments. If we’re not going to help these people there must be a way of getting around this rule of this income threshold guideline to allow people who can afford it, the double income earners, to access our programs and get these homes built to their specification and to their need. Blocking out the people that are willing and ready and able in the smaller communities just doesn’t fit the situation there. The larger communities, people can argue about market disruption and they may have a legitimate case, but in our small communities there’s really no market. There are people there willing, ready and able to be building their homes and I believe we should support them 100 percent.

There’s the bundling of the water treatment plant. I think that’s a good initiative. If it shows that it can save our government money then we must seriously take a look at that way of doing business. The only concern there is how do we involve local businesses and local residents to benefit from bundling of the water plant or bundling of infrastructure projects. Bundling means a larger company will get it and they’re willing and they want to build these projects. But it also means how do we build a local component into that, too, so that the community and band councils and businesses benefit as well from infrastructure development.

Some of the projects that happen in different ridings, particularly the Nahendeh riding, is that I’m for the infrastructure expenses, the infrastructure budget that we passed earlier this year. To us, that’s our stimulus package. The little projects are happening. The little $60,000 parks that for a small community is a huge project and a big investment into their communities and into their local job economy. I would urge government to see that none of these projects are deferred, that we try to get as much of our, I think, as the Finance Minister mentioned, about $200 million in infrastructure projects done for this coming fiscal year. I urge all the horsepower of our government and the brains we have to see that all these projects or as many of them get done. That $200 million shot in the arm is what our people and communities need. I wholeheartedly support that. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.