Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I guess a couple of things, and just off the top of my head while we're sitting here listening to colleagues and what they're saying about these projects, I guess where I will start is that, you know, while I absolutely respect that one of the priorities of this Assembly is housing, absolutely certainly, we also have other priorities of this Assembly, one of which is economic development and one of which is access to health care and also mental health. One of the things that comes to mind, for myself, is that during COVID, it became very clear how many residents of this territory rely on our parks to get out, get on the land in a place that is accessible, and where they also feel safe. And 47 percent of our park visitors are NWT residents that are using these spaces to have their outdoor time. So it has been substantiated by residents that these are important facilities to them.

In addition, Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories doesn't run these parks on an annual basis. These parks are run by businesses, by Northerners, who are contractors and who bid on RFPs and come in and do this work. The people who do the work as far as coming in, bidding on projects, and doing this work are largely northern businesses.

One of these projects is located in Nahanni Butte. That is a potential for local economic development outside of Yellowknife and in a community. Another one of these projects is in Fort Simpson. And one of the things that I think is really important to remember here is yes, there's the economic development piece but a lot of these projects have to do with safety. And so when we're talking about putting a gatehouse residence into Fort Simpson, the current person who had the contract uses an RV. That doesn't mean that the next person is going to have access to an RV in order to secure that contract and do that work. And that is a contract that will be going back out to RFP and will be put back out there.

In regards to all of these places, they are a driver of tourism which we know is definitely a light in our territory. We are finally back up to pre-COVID tourism numbers, and we hope to see those continue to grow with increased interest in the North and something that we want to be able to support. Regardless of whether or not these dollars are here, we have an onus and a responsibility, we have a liability, to upkeep the infrastructure that we have. And if we don't upkeep it, then we have to spend money to tear to down. So the Blackstone Park fixed roof, that's an -- or that's an existing structure. So if I can't fix it, I'm going to have to come back to this house for money in order to tear it down. So either way I'm spending money on it.

I think it's also worthwhile pointing out, Mr. Chair, that this motion doesn't call for dollars to be specifically removed from this section. It calls for dollars to be removed from ITI as a whole. And I think it's worth noting that ITI as a whole has routinely seen budget decreases over the years but is constantly expected to do more and be a bit of a beacon as far as attracting investment to the territory and continuing to drive economic development and has some pretty -- they've got a pretty bossy Minister, Mr. Chair, who expects them to do a lot of things and expecting them to do that with less money is a huge concern for me. So I just want to raise that these are huge opportunities for local contractors to be able to take this on. And like I said, if I'm losing money here in order to do this work, I'm going to have to come back and ask for money in order to undue what's already there. So thank you.