Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I, too, want to start with thanking the Minister for the presentation on the capital plan that is before us. I also want to take this opportunity to congratulate, in fact, the government on a couple of projects that were seen as very critical to the territory that we wrapped up in last year's capital plan, and that's the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway, which is essentially pretty much done, and then also the Mackenzie Valley fibre optic line. Two very important projects to our territory and to the vitality of our territory, and I want to congratulate the government for making those investments and completing those projects.

From a perspective of my own riding, I have to give some thanks to the government for ongoing commitments and investments in Highway No. 4, which is inclusive of Ingraham Trail, and a number of the improvements that they've made out there, as well as the improvements that they've made on the entrance coming in to the city for public safety concerns that I had raised over the past couple of years. Some of those improvements are still ongoing, and I look forward to seeing them completed.

Mr. Chair, by and large I look at capital budgets as a great opportunity to support our small communities. As we heard from my colleague from the Sahtu, it's an opportunity to create some stimulus within the smaller remote regions, it's an excellent opportunity for job creation, and, frankly, it's sustainable investment for the communities.

We know that this year's budget is all-inclusive of about $350 million, but the challenges that we're looking at is that a lot of that is already committed money. A significant portion of that is carried-over funding, so those are projects that are already under way.

Also another significant part of that is internal funding that is for the government itself to make improvements. An example is the IT investments and the functionality in IT, so it really it doesn't leave us much as it relates to new money being invested in projects that can help build job creation and sustainability in the communities.

If you look at it in that context, it's a little bit concerning. We would certainly want to see a lot more investment put into job opportunities and creating opportunities for small business and economic development in the smaller communities with capital projects.

The other concern I have when we don’t have that much new money being invested is the ongoing discussion around our government's known infrastructure gap. It is very large and continually growing, and it seems to be that, with having limited new capital investment, we're not doing much as it relates to trying to overcome this infrastructure gap, so I am a little bit concerned on that level, again, that the infrastructure gap is just going to continue to grow and that we are not putting meaningful investment to trying to limit its growth and/or reduce it in any way, shape, or form.

Mr. Chair, one of the things that I will support, as previous colleagues spoke about and I have spoken about a number of times, is that it is just simply time for the Power Corporation to start to come and present to the Legislative Assembly and the Members of the Legislative Assembly through the annual business planning cycle, both the capital and the main estimates, to just come and start putting their business cases before us so that we do not have to put the lines of questioning that we have with regard to dissolving boards or whether it is increased power rates or whether it is delayed generators or the like. These are the kinds of things that can be done in camera, in a confidential setting, as are current plan reviews with all other departments. I would strongly suggest that this government support that approach and have the Power Corporation, once and for all, start to report its annual business planning to this government.

One of the other things that I have to raise is the federal government's commitment now that we are starting to see with regard to investing in Canada. It is going to be a fairly large and significant pot of money, $570 million over an 11- or 12-year commitment, which is good. I mean, this is a good amount of money to see. It is going to come in a number of different pots. We will see public transit. We will see investments in green spending, in social spending, of course in rural and northern communities, as well as just economic development investment.

It still has a lot of challenges. I guess it is not fully clear how we are going to get our hands on all of this at this point. Some of it might come in the form of regular transfer funding, some through application programs, some through the Canada Infrastructure Bank and these other means. I guess we will just have to see over time how we are going to be able to access these funds. However, along with it comes a little bit of uncertainty. We are challenged all the time in the North with regard to capacity to be able to deliver on a lot of our own projects and a lot of our own spending. We see a lot of our larger employers struggling with the same issues. You know, getting $570 million over 11 years is going to be a challenge for this government, not only in finding capacity to deliver it, but it is going to be in finding the right O and M capacity to be able to support it thereafter.

I think lastly, Mr. Chair, if there is something that I might just want to add in the process, it is that, when we go through this process of planning capital, one thing that I think is a critical piece of information and a tool that is important for at least Regular Members to have is the five-year capital plan.

We do get to see the 20-year needs assessment kind of plan, but to be able to get our hands on the five-year capital plan so that we can narrow down exactly what it is that our government is looking to invest in is important for us in order to have full meaningful participation in the conversation, that we get our hands on the five-year capital plan so that we can contribute at a better level with regard to input on the capital projects that are forthcoming and being proposed. For now, Mr. Chair, those are really all of the introductory or general comments that I have with regard to the capital budget. I look forward to going through the process. Thank you.