Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just some general comments in terms of what’s before us in the main estimates and the budget, of course, of government. Just my comments in terms of the content and the process, or more so the content.

I think it’s fair to say there’s much less than what we wished for on behalf of our constituents and their desires to improve their communities and to ensure they have healthy families and they have opportunities for jobs and businesses. Whether those points are reflected in the budget at this time remains to be seen, but for the most part it’s just the process of which we have taken this far and the sense, at least from this side of the House, that we need to ensure that we have input into this process and ensure that this system of setting the budget for this government is determined on a collaborative basis and, at the same time, with mutual respect on the whole principle of consensus dialogue.

From this perspective, it’s been stated very clearly that it’s been a concern. I’m hoping that we learn from this exercise that on a go-forward basis we heed to these experiences and to try to improve the system that we’ve embarked upon and that we ensure that all voices are heard. We’re here to serve the people of the North and especially our constituents, and that we’ll learn from this exercise.

One thing that I’ve always tried to highlight is the traditional economies of the communities. As you know, the northern economy, at least from an historical sense, is based on hunting, trapping and fishing. Increasingly, as people move to the communities, the reliance on mainstream educational institutions to ensure our residents are able to achieve a great level and move on to secondary education to get their diplomas or degrees in technological fields or the sciences and ensure that they become productive members of society has been a challenge in terms of ensuring that we have citizens of the North that live in both

worlds and, at the same time, ensuring that we have a vibrant economy and a very good lifestyle for people.

There are indications that things are changing. We have an aging population, so our elders are moving on. At the same time, we have a younger growth of people who are trying to make it within the mainstream in terms of getting into education, getting training and jobs. That still remains as a challenge in terms of trying to at least put some support mechanisms in terms of supporting the trapping industry. I know there have been efforts in terms of the fishing industry as well as hunting. Recently, we had efforts in terms of the Wildlife Act and the development of their regulatory mechanisms to ensure that that’s implemented within a year. At the same time, we have measures in place in terms of wildlife population and management so that wildlife populations are on a sustainable level and managed properly for future generations.

We’ve seen, over the course of this year at least, a very successful trapping season where people are once again enjoying the labour of going out on the land, enjoying the natural elements of winter and being successful in harvesting furs and bringing them back to their communities and families and then selling them. We’ve seen a very successful year. Hopefully it will continue. We need to ensure support mechanisms in terms of ensuring that there are programs out there for our trappers and harvesters and that we try to make things work for them.

Of course, it’s always been a challenge of this government to try to meet the needs of the communities. In terms of infrastructure, there are always needs that our communities want, and of course, in the communities that I represent there’s always been a very keen interest to ensure that communities are reliant, they’re self-reliant, they’re independent, they take care of their residents locally and that, so it’s always been a challenge to try and meet the community needs, and of course, way back in partnership with governments and allowing, of course, that spectrum of possibilities to blossom, and the fruits of working together usually is manifested, at least in very good structures that are established and constructed locally with local labour and brought into the community and creating jobs. But that’s been a challenge because there’s only a limited source of funding out there that communities can tap into.

One possible area that I feel that this government needs to explore more, and it’s been highlighted by colleagues, is the concept of P3s. We’ve seen it initially in its infancy in terms of introducing a concept of that nature to a community, and that was the Deh Cho Bridge. That was a prime example where communities, governments and industry can

partner up to build a massive structure of that nature. I’m hoping, as we go down this path, that those kinds of concepts will be able to be maintained at least locally with local residents and local leaders to ensure that a partnership of that nature could be struck and successfully leading to the construction of infrastructure that sometimes is aging and sometimes is really needed. As an example, water treatment plants.

A few other comments are ongoing initiatives in tourism. I know the Economic Development Strategy outlines in general how it is that we could successfully take advantage of tourism. I look forward to the ongoing initiatives in terms of biomass initiatives ensuring that there are initiatives from the community level right to the regional level, right to territorial level that are continued. The prospect of perhaps seeing the major initiative in my riding is something that communities look forward to, hoping to see at some point at least the discussion reach the point where we could successfully look into a manufacturing plant successfully being opened and operated and creating jobs.

On a last note, on the Heritage Fund, it’s something that has been fairly, in my sense, emblazoned on the mind of this side of the House and this government, and it should be the priority of this government to see the increase from 5 percent to 25 percent. It’s something that we’ve set for ourselves. We need to realize it. I think it’s in the best interest of future generations, and at the same time, just basically listen to the basic principle of governance, which is listening to the public and what they had to say and not turning our backs on them but ensuring what we heard is founded on the idea that this democratic system works and we’re going to put into motion at least the increase of 5 percent to 25 percent of raising the Heritage Fund so that at least there is a sustainable pot of funding out there that is going to be invested for future generations.

Those are just a few comments that I had. Mahsi.