Thank you, Madam Chair. I am sure we appreciate the comments of a lot of the Members. Obviously, the issues are the same right across the Territories, because we have heard the same issues from practically every Member.

We appreciate some of the positive comments we have had surrounding the youth funding and the sports and recreation. That is always a good thing. We will continue to invest in our youth. That was a huge priority of the 16th Assembly. I think we have

seen that in a lot of the money making it into the mains. We saw this as a huge priority of the 17th Assembly. We are looking forward to carrying on with some of the good work in that regard.

Again, the Rec Policy Framework was mentioned a couple of times. We have been really pleased at the input that we had in that. Our lands department has done excellent work as far as that goes. They have done a lot of on-the-ground exercises.

I think one of the Members talked about going further down the road and taking over all the federal land when devolution does happen. We recognize that. I think the lands department is proposing to do some re-profiling and possibly bring in some enforcement people to help with that. We are trying to meet with certain people and get their input as to some of the uses of the land and some of their traditional uses so we can incorporate that and help us finish it and get a real good quality product out there, but I am really pleased with the work that has been done.

We did have an opportunity to brief committee. I think committee has seen a lot of advice that they were giving and advice that we were taking from outside and all the work that we did was incorporated into this particular one. We had committed to taking it out one more time, taking the last little bit of feedback before we roll out the final product. That is where we are at right now. A lot of really good work has been done. I commend the lands department. I have to commend the people out there for the input that they put in, not only here in Yellowknife but up in Inuvik. We just recently signed an MOU with the Town of Inuvik and the Gwich’in Tribal Council, Nihtat Gwich'in, because they have all expressed interest around Airport Lake in Inuvik. I think all their boundaries border Airport Lake, so we have a Land Use Management Plan Working Group which is huge. I am looking forward to some of the good work that is coming out of there.

The ground ambulance, we have heard committee and then we have seen the motion from NWTAC, so I think you will see coming forward in the supp that we are asking for that $200,000 to be reinstated into the budget. That I think responds well to the wishes of the committee and to NWTAC.

Funding to communities, community capacity building, we have seen some really good work. Obviously, we are still faced with some challenges, but I think overall we have seen a lot of good work that has been done by the communities with the responsibilities they have.

I mentioned that we have communities with surpluses now actually, but they are doing some really good work. They are actually able to get product on the ground probably cheaper than we could as a Government of the Northwest Territories because they have that ability and flexibility to shop around and get the best prices possible. We are seeing some good results. Of course, it is to the community’s benefit to incorporate some of the best energy practices that are out there. I think we have seen a few examples of that where, in Detah, they used pellet heat to heat their new community complex and some of the other communities.

I think I made a commitment to Mr. Bromley to do some exploring as far as the Standards Act. I remain committed to that. I am trying to line up a few meetings and get some input from a few parties out there that have a vested interest in this. Of course, I want to hear from the communities, because if we make adjustments to the Standards Act, that’s obviously going to have a huge financial impact on them.

I believe they’re building all their buildings according to the National Building Code, which is the right thing to do. If we have to have our own building standards on top of that, say two by twelve walls instead of two by six, which is standard across the country, then you know we may have to look at that. I have committed that I would explore that.

I do know that the MACA building code had been open for some public consultation for the last few months. They were looking for some feedback for people across the country because they were hoping to make some amendments to the current building code, so I’m looking forward to some of the results of that. I’ve been following that quite closely. My understanding is they are looking at later on in 2012, more likely closer to fall, to come out with some proposed amendments. So I will wait to see how that rolls out. Hopefully, it will take into consideration some of the challenges that are faced in some of the colder climates across the country.

Drinking water is another big one that’s been mentioned a few times by practically every Member. Of course, we continue to monitor that. We have a very good training program and the Member for Sahtu mentioned the good work of the School of Community Government, and that’s another area where they’ve done some really good work. I didn’t realize they had so many different courses in the School of Community Government which helps communities with their capacity and does really good work with HR, LGANT and...(inaudible)...as far as community capacity goes. We’re always looking for mentors or retired SAOs that we can use their expertise and maybe put them in a community for a few months and they can work with that community. We’ve had some

fairly good success with that. If there’s any retired SAOs that are really good that are out there listening, we can always use your expertise, but we are looking at all options possible to work with our communities and try to help them build capacity.

We’ve had some good uptake. We have people from the community and are going to be from the community more than likely for the rest of their life, unless they move on. They are taking a really good interest in this and I think it’s a good investment as far as we’re concerned, because they are committed to their community and they’ll do the best job possible, but we still continue to seek professional advice from where we can get it.

I strayed off from drinking water. We continue to work with communities. I’ve been doing some checking after Mr. Dolynny raised this in the House here a couple of weeks back earlier in the session. He talked about the drinking water and the testing and that, so I’ve been doing some follow-up on that and working with my colleagues, four departments. We actually just had a meeting last week. It’s probably one of the first meetings of all four departments that are involved in the drinking water part of it. So we’re looking at trying to get some work done there.

I think I basically covered most of the issues that were raised again. They were a common theme right across all Members and I look forward to the opportunity to discuss this in detail. I’m sure we’ll have more questions and I’m not going to take up too much more of committee’s time. I’ll have more responses when we get into detail. Thank you, Madam Chair.