Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too, along with several of my colleagues, will be voting against this budget.

I realize that I only just joined this Assembly in the last month; however, from what I've seen in the short time I have been here, I'm not impressed with the funding allocation to the Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh riding.

Mr. Speaker, as a former chief, great knowledge working in our communities, understanding the people in our communities. I heard every day when I was a chief that housing's always been a priority. I sat on the DFN housing committee for a long time, and again at the national level, they've been saying the same thing.

So Mr. Speaker, from what I've seen so far, I do not believe the allocation of funding is eventually distributed across all communities, the regions in the NWT.

More often than not, it is the capitol region that are receiving most of the budgetary funds. Since I've been here, I talked to a lot of -- about the housing needs within my riding but not have received any budget commitments from the Minister of Finance or Cabinet. The closest thing I received on this issue was a commitment from the finance minister to meet with me and to discuss the housing budget needs within the Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh riding. While that is a good first step, that does not address the many outstanding housing needs for the people in my constituency.

Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, I had been questioning the consensus government concept. I feel that there are flaws, and these flaws have to be evaluated and addressed. True consensus style government has not yet been reflected in this budget process. Therefore, I will be voting against this budget. My constituents are extremely important to me and my work here at the Legislative Assembly, and I must see concrete changes in the budget process in the future in order to support any future budget. I am just not seeing enough funding into the smaller communities or regional centres being addressed with concern -- which is concerning. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to make a note too as well I -- I'm wearing the orange ribbon today. And I got one here for my colleague, Mr. O'Reilly. I just didn't give it to him yet. But it's just to show that small communities in the Northwest Territories matter, and they need to be heard. And that's why I want to dedicate this ribbon to the -- all small communities in the Northwest Territories. Mahsi.