Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to thank the Minister and the staff for being here in

terms of giving us some overview of what the plans are for 2013-14.

I am somewhat optimistic and looking forward to the health centre that will be constructed in Fort Providence. As it may be known, the health centre that is presently there is common to those communities in the North. It is an aging infrastructure that perhaps is beyond its years. The community is looking forward to the construction stage of the health centre. Also, at the same time, I think there is a degree of anticipation in terms of community involvement in terms of the design of the structure and also perhaps just the construction stage as well. With great anticipation, the community looks forward to this project to take shape and form at some point.

While that is a positive new beginning of sorts, there are still some needs in the riding that I represent. For example, in Enterprise they have made a strong case of trying to be independent in terms of having their own water supply and ensuring that they provide that service to their citizens. So I encourage this government to be open, to be receptive, and to work with the leadership there to ensure that at some point that that responsibility in their independence is forged and that there’s a working relationship that’s established with the community of Enterprise.

Similarly for Kakisa as well. They’ve indicated, again, their aspirations to be independent of trucked water service that’s delivered from Hay River. They have again made a strong case in terms of some cost advantages of ensuring that they have their own capacity to have their own water treatment plant in their home community to deliver water services to the citizens of Kakisa.

We’re seeing at this point, within a month or so, the dawning of a reality perhaps we didn’t quite expect, but, I mean, that’s the biggest infrastructure that we’ve ever seen in this part of the North. It’s a symbol of what we can accomplish here in the Northwest Territories, and that’s the bridge. It’s going to be completed. The community, of course, has been part of that whole initiative. We look forward to its completion and its opening, but at the same time, there are initiatives that I feel the community would like to at least be involved with. One of them is I know the marketing of the Deh Cho Bridge would be something that could be maximized in terms of drawing in tourists. It could be perhaps compared to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Not perhaps in that colour, but the point is that the community would likely continue to be involved in terms of operation and maintenance once the bridge is operational and we see 24-hour traffic going through the community.

Those are three major points that I wanted to highlight, but also at the same time there are still some existing opportunities, I think. For one, I think

this government has made great strides in terms of the biomass initiative. I understand that there are some discussions with the community in terms of forest management agreements. There could more likely be sustainable projects that will create not only employment but business opportunities for the district or the region that I serve, especially the communities. So we look forward to that.

Then again, there’s also the potential to maximize on tourism. I think there are some initiatives in the works. We look forward to it, especially at the community level so that it complements the strength of communities, and that’s basically people that have the skills to hunt and fish and trap and know the land that would like to bring tours out into the bush and teach them this in terms of how we live up here in the Northwest Territories.

In the community that I come from, Fort Providence, there have been some issues in regard to the swimming pool that was constructed several years back. It’s unfortunate that it sat this year without being open and we had our kids swimming at the dock. Hopefully at some point there will be a solution arrived at so that the swimming pool becomes operational.

Again, there’s the recent expression of a desire to perhaps look at an emergency runway, because with the dawning of the bridge, with it being in operation, in Kakisa the community has expressed a desire to see if there are measures that could be taken to look at establishing an emergency runway in the community. Not only for the community of Enterprise, but at least on the south side of the bridge where you have at least a contingency to measure if you need to medevac someone, perhaps, if there is an accident and there’s a community response. You need to have a critical link to Yellowknife and one of the ways is by airplane. So the community has proposed to see if there’s a way that that effort can be realized.

Of course, the other matter that I raise at this time is just with the cellular service. I’ve brought that up on several occasions, and again, with the bridge and the 24-hour traffic, it is going to become a necessity. It could be a vital link in terms of having real-time communications to major centres, especially first aid services that could be very critical if perhaps we experience a major traffic accident on the highway and it’s a must at this point. I think if Fort Providence and the area would see an establishment of cellular services, it will bring us one step closer to the concept of ensuring that we have all the major points in the Northwest Territories covered and that we look at at least laying the foundation for a 911 call centre. That could be very possible.

The other point that I wanted to touch on is there are still issues with housing within the constituency in terms of how it is that some empty homes could

still exist in the communities, and how it is that there’s a basic need and some houses sit empty in communities. Of course, people become envious when they see a house that’s just sitting there unoccupied.

There’s a lot of discussion in terms of devolution. I’d like to see perhaps more discussion in terms of decentralization. There’s a real need to ensure that the communities survive and we look at perhaps opportunities and positions being transferred to the communities so we at least spread and share the wealth of all this massive institution that we establish.

So those are just some of the key points that I wanted to highlight in terms of what it is that we’re discussing at this time. Mahsi.