Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. As an MLA, I regularly confer with leaders in and around my constituency. Very recently, while having one of these discussions, an idea was shared about firefighting services, which I might share with this House.

Mr. Speaker, this is an idea which my colleague the Member for Yellowknife North and his constituents will appreciate and I am hoping they will support. Within the next five months, residents of the Ingraham Trail will no longer have firefighting services provided by the City of Yellowknife. This has left much speculation for how this void of vital public services will be filled for the people on the Ingraham Trail.

Mr. Speaker, here is an idea that will possibly strike two birds with one stone. One, the GNWT can help increase its capacity, training, and infrastructure at the existing fire hall in Detah. In addition, MACA could contract out all fire services for the Ingraham Trail to Detah. Two, this will help Detah become more self-sufficient as a community and as a First Nation. Also, Mr. Speaker, it will provide much-needed public services to residents along the nearby Ingraham Trail, and this will relieve the City of Yellowknife and territorial government from this responsibility.

I think this is a very reasonable idea that would be a win-win for all parties involved. It will, however, take some time, preparation, and resources to achieve this, but time is of the essence. For example, Detah will need to assemble a pool of volunteers who will remain on-call in case of emergencies. They will also need more equipment in terms of vehicles and personnel and protective gear, as well as training exercise to ensure that best health and safety practices are being followed.

Mr. Speaker, cost is always a consideration. What I do know is that building on what we already have in place is far more cost-efficient than starting from scratch. Mr. Speaker, I urge our government to work with all relevant departments on this, along with the YKDFN and the City of Yellowknife, to make this idea a reality. With that, I will have questions for the Minister of MACA at the appropriate time. Marsi cho.