Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank my colleague from Range Lake for seconding this motion. Essentially this motion asks for the establishment of ambulances and, at the same time, highway rescue services to deal with people that are in distress either in communities or on the highway.

Of course, it also calls for the enhancement of first responder training, training for fire departments, as well, and likely the establishment of protocols for dealing with emergency situations both inside and outside of communities. I understand there has been an interdepartmental exercise in terms of trying to add some focus in terms of the discussions of looking to establish some solutions on this initiative. In that instance, I think three departments have been working on this for some time.

Initial comments include that there's a lack of trained personnel. There's a lack of equipment, lack of money, plus a matter of liability is a major concern. Our conscience will be our liability if we do not act immediately on this matter and put in place adequate services for transporting medically distressed people or assisting vehicles, accidents or fires on our highway system. At this point there's a lack of will to establish the vital, basic service for the well-being of all Northerners, and this motion addresses that.

With the bridge opening, we should have anticipated that it's going to necessitate the need for increased services on the highway in terms of trying to be able to respond to accidents that could happen. At this point we have our volunteer fire departments in communities that need to be properly trained. One example is just in terms of putting them into a capacity so they do know how to deal with defensive fire techniques, and at the same time, first responders need to have adequate training so they're confident and, when the call of duty comes, they don't hesitate on a moment's notice. Mahsi.