Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve been around this Chamber for a long time and sometimes I think my purpose of being here is to sometimes bring a reality check to some of the goings-on around here, possibly.
It’s budget season. Whether it’s the territorial government or the federal government, it’s budget season. Of course, you can well imagine that there have been some discussions behind the scenes here about whether our budget is enough, whether
it’s allocated properly, and sometimes people say, well, if they don’t get things the way that they want them, there’s some unhappiness. That’s to be expected, Mr. Speaker. We are humans.
But even though it’s not Thanksgiving, I think every day is Thanksgiving. Prosperity is a relative thing. I guess no matter how much you have or you don’t have, someone has less or someone has more than you.
I see every day as Thanksgiving because no matter what, if we take the time to think about it, we have very much to be thankful for. We are a territory of 42,000 people with a budget of $1.6 billion. We have an approved capital budget of $125 million, and I think you could compare our capital infrastructure of other small northern communities, and I’m sorry, but we have got the Cadillac of everything. We don’t build junk. We build the best of everything when we build things.
We’re looking at a social envelope budget with housing, health and social services, and education of millions and millions of dollars. We have the best post-secondary education support program in the country. Agreed? We have the best seniors support program in the country. We have the most generous Housing Program in the country.
Recently, our Social Programs committee visited the new medevac transfer site at the Edmonton International Airport. If you are sick and you live in the Northwest Territories, trust me, we’re going to get you to where you’re going to get help and we are not going to talk about the price. We are not going to ask how much it costs to get you there. We’re going to take you to Edmonton, which has the highest rated Capital Health Authority in the country. There are two capital health authorities in all of Canada. One is in London, Ontario, the other one is Edmonton, Alberta, and that’s where we’re going to take you and our government will sign a contract with them and they will put you to the front of the list and they will look after you. Is that true?
In the Northwest Territories, if you want to start a business, we’ll help you. If you want an education, we’ll help you. If you need a place to live, are you homeless, we’ll find a place for you. As I mentioned, if you’re sick, we’ll look after you. Are you trapped in addictions? We will help you.
We have got to say that there is a lot of opportunity here and we need only watch the news for a few minutes...
Mr. Speaker, I’m sorry, but I have to seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted