Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to today to express my thanks to the communities of Fort Simpson and Jean Marie River for my recent visit to the Deh Cho to have a look at how things were shaping up ahead of the recent flooding. I wanted to thank the interim Grand Chief for the Deh Cho, Stanley Sanguez, for taking time to speak with me, as well as the LKFN Chief Kele Antoine, and Chief Nolene Hardisty of Jean Marie River who made her staff available for me.

In addition, I'd also like to thank the municipal staff, Mayor Sean Whelly of Fort Simpson, as well as the shelter operator was, for allowing me to come and really have a look at the community and see where the flood recovery is at.

Mr. Speaker, I'm quite concerned about over a year out from the floods in Fort Simpson last year that we don't have people back in their homes. We've spent $2 million on a sole source contract to a business in order to project manage and get these people back in. And I'm curious, Mr. Speaker, to know if there are penalties built into that contract for the fact that they have not delivered on time.

I look at the homes. They are not suited for northern buildings. They have flat roofs. Snow load on them will be a lot. In fact, water was pouring out of the corner of one of them when there hadn't been rain or snow for weeks prior to that. I'm very concerned that when we look at what's happening in Hay River that we are going to be in the same situation there within the next year.

This government has told me that it is on the municipalities to budget and prepare for emergencies; however, I cannot understand how we can leave it to communities and municipalities with little to no capacity and underfunded resources to prepare for climate change driven emergencies. That is the responsibility of this government and this Cabinet to ensure that happens.

Mr. Speaker, I'm not going to ask any questions today. My own mental health has been struggling through this last while as I listen to people tell me time and time again how neglected they feel by this Cabinet, how neglected they feel by senior bureaucracy, and how basically horrific things have become in some of the smaller communities. And I really have to say I don't think people care. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.