Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I look around, and I see people in various states of overwhelm and depression. It reminds me of some of the toughest times our territory has been through when I was growing up in the early 90s but perhaps it seems even worse now that I'm grown and have adult responsibilities. It's also why I'm here. Running for office is born of my desire to help. The only thing I'm certain of doing in hard times is using my skill sets to help when and where I'm capable.
Mr. Speaker, this is an important note. Your capacity to help will look different in every day, hour, and moment. Mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual burnout is real in our territory and achingly present, and I want to acknowledge and respect that.
Mr. Speaker, over the coming weeks of this session, I want to speak of how we can build a stronger territory that provides many kinds of help to our neighbours to withstand hard times. One of the largest looming hard times is that of financial hard times, Mr. Speaker. We will do what we do best, support people as much as we can, but we also need a government that we can rely on to support us when times are tough to ensure nobody gets left behind.
Mr. Speaker, one part of a strong foundation that we can rely on could and should be a guaranteed basic income to remove the paternalistic reach of income assistance. As I mentioned in this House, the Senate of Canada is studying basic income and Alternatives North is preparing a draft implementation report for what it could look like in this territory. I'd like this Assembly to begin to look at it seriously and why it could be beneficial as compared to income assistance. I will have questions for the Minister of ECE at the appropriate time. Thank you.