Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It takes a whole effort of the Assembly to work towards our capital budget. I am very pleased that we are able to get through it earlier, just because of timing in some of the communities that don’t have roads and have only access by winter roads. If you get the materials and supplies in at an earlier time, I am going to be pleased with that aspect of our capital estimates. As MLAs, we work hard in lobbying the Ministers, lobbying the government in writing or raising issues in the House and trying to get our fair share of resources for our constituency. I can say that is certainly the Nahendeh riding. I feel that we have our fair share of resources, but

constituents also point out that a lot of the lacking issues... I will kind of raise them as we go along.

I think the biggest thing for me is that many other ridings, including Yellowknife or Inuvik, have their huge projects like the Dementia Centre or the super school in Inuvik and other schools that are very expensive. However, in my riding I have two smaller communities, Trout Lake and Nahanni Butte, that all they are asking for is to have a look at their schools. I hope that there is a time that we can start building or replacing the schools in the smaller communities once again. It has always been Trout Lake’s contention that their original Charles Tetcho School has never been replaced. In fact, Education decided we use the community hall to take care of the educational needs. We never replaced a school in Trout Lake. That is something that is high on my agenda. I certainly would like the government to consider that as we move along.

I am pleased to see that there is some planning study money for the school in Nahanni Butte as well. They have outgrown their school. It is a log home. It is a log construction. I would like to see that school be in... It depends on the study too, I guess, and the engineering, Mr. Chair. The community would certainly like to see improvements in that area.

I spoke countless times on the highway system in the constituency I represent. I have five out of my six communities that are road accessible. In the wintertime, there are six. When I travel to my constituency, hold my constituency meetings, it is always high on the agenda as well. The roads, roads, roads and I noticed that the Minister of Transportation is up there. Maybe he can indicate some of the investments in Highway No. 1, Highway No. 7 that are coming up in the capital estimates, or else, if he chooses, I can wait until the appropriate time when the department comes up too, Mr. Chair. I continue to press for it, especially for Highway No. 7. It is one of the gateways to the North by road. I always press the issue that the federal government created a new Nahanni National Park Reserve. They want the world to see it. One of the ways to do it is through our highway system. I would encourage the Finance Minister to use that argument when he can with our federal counterparts and Minister of Transportation as well.

I am pleased to see that a lot of the little issues are being taken care of as well. I am pleased to see Transportation is looking at runway lighting for Nahanni Butte as something that is being worked on for seven years. It is a small expenditure, Mr. Chair, but it is a huge pay-off for a small community like Nahanni Butte and all the visitors that go there and are concerned about the safety in the evenings, and it’s about getting there earlier as well. So I’m certainly very, very pleased with that expenditure.

I would be remiss not to also mention the highway that goes from Fort Simpson towards Wrigley. You know that that also needs a lot of work. The residents of Wrigley use that as their lifeline. They are continually frustrated. There was some investment this year, but it was just so hard to keep up, but that will be one of the legs that has to be improved as we work towards a Mackenzie Valley Highway system, Mr. Chair. When that becomes a reality or should a future pipeline meet it, I really think we should start planning on improving that portion of the highway too.

In terms of Fort Simpson, it is the regional centre and in my recent constituency meeting in Fort Simpson, residents also spoke about the need to upgrade the hospital. I’m pleased to see there is going to be some investment in the capital budget. It looks like there’s some planning dollars for it. You know, I would only urge a couple of things. I know that we are looking at standard buildings, but if this is becoming a regional centre, we’ve got to plan 20 years down the road as well. We’d certainly like to see replacement of a full operating hospital in Fort Simpson. Who knows what the future will bring. Like with the development of the highway, development of a pipeline, increase of any development such as mining, you will certainly see Fort Simpson grow.

So in the planning, putting the work towards it, I would like to see them consider those factors. Minister Lee was with me in Fort Simpson and we heard clearly from residents, “include us in the planning.” A couple of them are actually staffed to make the hospital more user friendly and make it ergonomic, because they are the ones that use it on a daily basis. So that’s certainly something that I would urge as we work towards the planning of that.

The other huge issue is housing. The Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation did indicate we are going to be faced with declining funds, so I’m not sure how we are going to invest in housing in the future. First things first, get people into the units that are there, the units that we built. Get them into there. Spend money. I do agree that we do have to spend some money on reinvestment and renovations and retrofits of the existing homes. That’s where the need is. But we do have to wrap our heads around how we provide housing in the future. Hopefully something comes out either with the federal government or some kind of lobbying effort.

We are speaking about having an NWT Day in Ottawa. I don’t know if housing and the declining CMHC funds is part of our strategy, but I would certainly like to see it as well there. It’s a big issue in all my communities. Just in terms of housing, as well, a lot of it is when we build houses, people with higher incomes aren’t eligible for programming, Mr.

Chair. I feel, and I know, that these are the people we want, the people with the higher incomes that can make the mortgage payments, that won’t fall in arrears. So these are the people who should be in homes and not rejected. I will be speaking about that later on in the week, because I really feel that’s one of the ways to get money back into NWT housing programs, one of the ways of having more money to build more houses in our communities.

I would just like to thank you for the opportunity for commenting on the opening remarks to the Minister of Finance. Mahsi.