I have general comments rather than questions, but the Premier's free to ask -- or to answer or speak to what I have to say. But I'm quite pleased with what's being proposed in the main estimates and also the business plan. The legislative agenda for this department is sufficiently robust in both the kind of machinery of government -- or machinery of the public service that has to bring forward things like Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Acts and the Legislation Act and the unsexy pieces of legislation. Forgive that -- forgive me if that's unparliamentary but that's really what it is. But we do have some very -- an ambitious agenda for improving public safety and giving law enforcement the tools it needs to succeed.

I have -- you know, this is -- the issue of crime prevention and crime reduction is not one -- it's not solved by more police on its own, but we do need to have a robust response to organized crime. And what's been increasingly apparent is we have a drug crime problem and an organized crime problem that are intertwined and taking advantage of our most vulnerable citizens, particularly in the small communities. If we do not have a robust law enforcement response to these predators, we are not going to be able to keep communities safe.

I have never seen so much violence in my hometown of Yellowknife as I have this -- these last few years, since the pandemic. There have been murders every month this year I think, including, you know, newly discovered ones that are -- or suspicious deaths that are most likely related to drug crime. There are handguns found throughout the city now, not long guns but handguns. Crack cocaine is everywhere, in every community. These are not caused by a public health addictions problem. These are caused by gangsters from the south who are, again, taking advantage of our most vulnerable citizens. So we need a multifaceted approach. I think over the years, governments have been investing in social support and infrastructure. We've seen Housing First be rolled out in the Northwest Territories to varying degrees of success. We've seen the men's healing program be redeveloped and reoffered. We have -- the judiciary has been very active in supporting different ways of dealing with criminality. And integrated case management started in the Department of Justice for chronic recidivists and users of the system. So I think we have been trying to get a handle on it, throwing a lot at it, you know, and then it's all underpinned by intergenerational trauma and the legacy of cultural genocide that was the mission of the Canadian government, the colonial Canadian government that they still must make amends for. But regardless of that reality, regardless of the systemic factors that lead us here and continue to keep people trapped in poverty, trapped in addictions and difficult to treat, it does not change the reality that we have armed thugs in our communities praying upon these people, and we need to give police the tools to deal with that. And this budget does that in a significant way. And I'm very pleased to see that, that it was not something we needed to fight for. It was not something we disagreed with with the Minister, with the Cabinet, with the Premier. It's something we can all get behind. And, yeah, we can do more than just cops, absolutely. I think that's underway. I think we have resources in other departments as well, and we have a commitment from this -- from the Premier, from this Minister, to integrate those services so it is not just a one-lens approach to this problem. But if we neglect the support we need for law enforcement, we are not going to address, you know, the people who are making the problem worse in our communities. And that's what I wanted to say today. I'll have other commentary for key activities, but this is a big issue for me. This is -- you know, I have a relatively quiet suburban part of Yellowknife that is my riding of Range Lake, and even out there in a residential dense area, people are feeling unsafe which I didn't -- you know, again, growing up here, I didn't think it would ever feel this way. I thought we were removed -- not immune, but certainly removed from the worst of it, and that's just not the case anymore. So I'm hoping that with this budget, we can start to take action and turn the page on this, bring these predators to justice, and protect the people who need protecting the most in the Northwest Territories. Thank you. And thank you to the Premier for bringing this ambitious budget forward. Thank you.