Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s hard to decide what to talk about on budget day,

but I think I’ll follow the lead of my colleague for Hay River North and we’ll say nice things today. We’ve got six weeks to get into all the rest, right?

So it is a time of restraint and it is a time of kind of holding the line in our government, and in view of that, we still see some good things in there, and I will speak specifically about Hay River. As well, the Midwifery Program for Hay River, something long awaited and really looking forward to.

I look at the reintroduction of the Drug and Alcohol Treatment Program in the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre, and I thank the Minister of Justice for hearing from us on that and reinstating that program. That not only means programs and services to people who are incarcerated, but it also creates some jobs in Hay River.

Now, there are 4,500 jobs in the public service and 18 of them are being decentralized out of Yellowknife. Maybe that doesn’t sound like a lot, but it is a start, and I hope it is just the start, because it’s more than what we’ve had in the past and I know that some of those are coming to Hay River. Unfortunately, we can’t give you all the details about that yet, but I do thank the Cabinet again for not just paying lip service to decentralization but for there actually being something in this budget, which is going to put actions to those words and we’re going to see some positions decentralized to other communities, including Hay River. So we’re really happy about that.

This government’s commitment to biomass is good news for Hay River too. It’s good news for the environment; it’s good news for the North. Certainly with the up and coming establishment of a pellet manufacturing plant very close to Hay River, which will economically benefit Hay River, everything this government does to switch from fossil fuels to biomass is something that will indirectly benefit Hay River as well. It will create that demand for this product in the North, which will now be produced in the North.

The $700,000 for pellet stoves in public housing units, long overdue. It should have been done a long time ago, but I think we should go one step further. I think we should offer pellet stoves to any person in the Northwest Territories for free from this government, as a tangible commitment to the fact that we are concerned about the cost of living and we support them. I don’t think we should make it all tied up in a big rebate program and make it difficult for people. Let’s just do it. It’s good for the environment, it’s good for the people and, hey, it will be good for Hay River because we’re going to sell you the pellets.

---Laughter

So I am pleased with the budget overall. I know it’s not everything we’d like it to be, but we also have to keep in mind that we are on the cusp of devolution,

royalties, more jobs in the Northwest Territories, and I think that next year at this time we’ll see a very different looking budget. For this one we are holding the line, we’re trying to be responsible. It is somewhat of fiscal restraint, but we are on the verge of many exciting things.

I think somebody forgot to hit the timer on here because I’m getting way more than my time here today.

So, kudos to the Cabinet. Like I said, we’ll get into the detail and some of the things we’re not so happy about, perhaps, in the weeks ahead, but for today, it’s a day of celebration in the Northwest Territories, and thank you for all your hard work.