Thank you, Madam Chair. Just reflecting on what I said last year, I was very concerned that they weren’t putting money into our economy. That’s something I am very concerned with. Although we are doing well here in the southern part of our territory, up in the northern part, the Mackenzie Delta, we are struggling. There isn’t very much for economic projects up there right now. I am very glad we are putting some funds forward to meet our priorities; for example, the fibre optic link. As I mentioned last time, we did put money towards the Inuvik-Tuk highway and I’m glad to see that in the budget this year.
Also, investments in mental health and addiction prevention, on-the-land programs, as you all know the Gwich’in have a facility up in the Mackenzie
Delta that we need to make use of. We had a lot of programs that were held last year and a lot of people in the region would like to see that progress further.
It’s very good to see that things have picked up in the Sahtu region. Our employment rates right now are roughly at 68 percent, but we could make it better once we begin our economic projects in the territory.
A good example my colleagues brought up here last week were the prices in Yellowknife. They are very concerned that they are paying $1.38 per litre of gas, but yet in the Mackenzie Delta, where there is not very much for economics, we are paying $1.80. Yet there seems to be no problem with that.
Madam Chair, I really appreciate that we’re putting $250,000 to focus on youth. There are a lot of projects that are being taken in the communities right now. A lot of these communities, like the smaller communities, don’t have youth facilities or youth centres that youth can gather, just communicate and keep busy. That way they’re not led astray.
Also, I appreciate that we are investing in long-term facilities here in the southern part of the region. Even though the territory, a good example about a month back is here in town. There was somebody in the mall there that was speaking about health care in the territory. They are really impressed the way we take care of our elders here in the territory. That is our tradition. We need to expand what we are doing right now. Right now we are basically focusing on regional centres, but we talk about decentralization. Well, let’s look at the larger centres, larger communities, not only the regional centres. I think that’s something this government could do in the future.
I also appreciate that we are putting funds towards the fibre optic link. I am really excited to see these projects progress further.
And also tourism. We did get an increase in tourism. We can always do a lot more. We have a lot of opportunity here in the Northwest Territories for tourism. Although we are putting a lot into marketing, we need to work with the small businesses to create a lot more businesses, especially in tourism, whether it’s boat tours. It doesn’t have to be big game hunting, although big game hunting is doing well. There are all different types that we can do.
Also, with the Deh Cho Bridge, I hope there are a lot more tourism initiatives with that as a highlight.
With that, that’s all I have right now, Madam Chair.