Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to open up with some general comments. You know, I think that if we're to just maybe touch on a couple of highlights. Of course, I think all of us here believe that clearly the Northwest Territories has some incredible economic development opportunities, especially going forward when we look at the potential for exploration and mining. We also want to look at the potential that we have as a territory to diversify our economy and take advantage of traditional economies that we've once upon a time had robust results from; fisheries is a good example.

We also have, of course, before us many challenges: the high cost of living that keeps increasing; the high cost of power production that we have in this territory; and, of course, the limited road infrastructure that we have. We have also these challenges that are before us in terms of continuing to modernize legislation and whether that's on lands or resources. We also, of course, have world markets that we have to compete with when it comes to a number of our resources that we have available to the world.

Low commodity prices right now are having a major effect on, in particular, the oil and gas industry in the Northwest Territories, and we see that now throughout the Sahtu and the Beaufort Delta, and this is all leading to the opportunity for our small communities, and it's our small communities that we need to create jobs for.

Further, as it relates to potential opportunities on some work that we've done recently. Of course, the near opening of the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway and eventually the road to Whati will also present some pretty good economic development and some good diversification opportunities. We need to create some certainty and public confidence in our regulatory system, as I touched on before, and it's not only to do with major project approvals but it's also to do with how we allow our new up-and-coming entrepreneur and business opportunities to take place, and, of course, supporting mineral claims and exploration opportunities.

Lastly, I think one of the things that I want to touch on is that this government, and in particular this department, needs to make investment to improve the climate for entrepreneurs and small businesses, and one of the main focuses in that area is going to have to be with regard to reducing red tape and redundancy. So those are just some of the general observations and opening comments, Mr. Chair. Thank you.