Thanks, Mr. Chair. I guess I'd like to start just with a general comment on the Minister's opening statement, where the budget for the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation is going to be reduced by 9.5 per cent in one year. I think that says something about the priority that this government is placing on housing.
I understand some of that reduction is related to reduced funding from the federal government, but not all of it. I think that's a sad statement about the priorities of our government, quite frankly, that you can find money for other big infrastructure projects, but when it comes to housing we don't seem to be able to find it; in fact, we're going to be facing cuts.
So I know that my colleague talked about some of the other reductions in this department. There are some good things here: that the Minister has committed to an additional half-million dollars for keeping seniors in their own homes, aging-in-place, that's a good thing, but there are some other cuts in here that are just not good for our residents, and certainly I can't support this budget overall for the Housing Corporation. I'll have more to say as we work our way through. Thanks, Mr. Chair.