Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Premier noted, we heard the federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, this morning announce a new funding from the Government of Canada's Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund. That was a very welcome announcement, and it will go a long way in helping residents and businesses adapt to our changing environment. So it is fitting today to speak about the urgency of responding to climate change.

Climate change presents an existential threat. It causes more chaos and disruption, costs more billions, and more lives, every year. We humans have been taking resources out of our environment, while pumping pollution back in. Our ecosystem has been irreversibly changed and, as we know, climate change knows no borders.

It's urgent to move, Mr. Speaker. Last weekend, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a dire warning to the world: we have just 12 years to make significant changes in our carbon production that causes climate change, or face dire consequences.

The IPCC report says a 2 degree average rise in global temperature will cause extreme heat waves, wildfires, flooding, drought, sea level rise, and extensive poverty. Does this sound familiar? It says, "Every one-tenth of a degree is a choice between life or death." It's possible to slow this trend and limit temperature rise if we make tough decisions and take decisive action, now.

Mr. Speaker, the report emphasizes that the wheels of irreversible damage are turning fast. Climate change is a reality, and the world's scientific community agrees, human activities are a primary cause.

Here in the North, we are rapidly approaching a number of tipping points. Even if we stopped emitting carbon by 100 per cent tomorrow, it would not reverse the warming trend and avoid the impacts that come with thawing permafrost, melting icecaps, eroding shorelines, increasing winds, massive forest fires, and dissipating water levels that we currently experience.

Lastly, Mr. Speaker, I am more than pleased to see this government develop the 2030 NWT Climate Change Strategic Framework, and I commend them for that. It calls for action; to reduce our use of fossil fuels, broaden our knowledge and awareness, and build resilience and adaptation. For our sake, and future generations, action can't come soon enough.

At the appropriate time, I will have questions for the Minister of ENR. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.