I only have one more question. In the new law will the Minister commit or at least encourage some of the enforcement to be a little bit

softened on some of us that are not all trained on the new laws?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Transportation. In his Minister’s statement he talked about distracted driving laws that are being implemented. I’m just wondering if the government is going to continue to promote this new law and make sure that everybody knows about it.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member’s statement today is meant to provide an update, as a new Member, on what has happened in the last few days and few months in this Assembly.

I’d like to thank all my colleagues in the Legislative Assembly for the first couple of months. It has been an exciting experience so far. I look forward to the New Year and the rest of our term.

As all of us came here as 19 Members, we came to the 17

th Assembly as community leaders. Now we

have become Speaker, Premier, Cabinet Ministers, chairpersons, assistant chairpersons and committee members. With all these roles we have begun to work for the people of the Northwest Territories.

I look forward to continuing to work for the people of Hay River as one of their MLAs. I have begun to work on many of the issues that have come forward from the election. In the New Year I will work on issues for Hay River: the need for permanent doctors, the improvement of the economy for Hay River, look to get dredging of the Hay River. To improve and to continue Hay River as a major shipping area in the North, dredging will also help the safety of the Hay River during the spring break-up and will also help access to the local fishing industry.

In the coming years I want to continue to work with my community and such groups as the town council, chamber, DEA, community groups and all residents of Hay River.

I would like to commend the Speaker, Mr. Premier, the Cabinet Ministers and all Members for taking on a great start to the 17

th Assembly.

As the Christmas season is now here, we need to be thankful for what we have. I want to wish all the people in the Northwest Territories a happy holiday and I hope to have a great year. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Speaker.

That’s great to hear. The other question I had is: Does the department have any plans to increase any small business creation to create those jobs as well?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker: My question today is to the Minister of ITI and as my Member’s statement indicated, one of the factors in poverty is job creation and I’m just wondering what ITI has in the future for job creation in the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to speak on the Anti-Poverty Strategy in the Northwest Territories.

Some people believe that the state of poverty is a self-induced state; however, there are more examples that it’s a dependency on government systems. The Anti-Poverty Strategy would have the government look at the current system and to get people off the dependency. The strategy would have all departments work together to solve these difficult problems for the people of the Northwest Territories. Poverty includes those people that are working in the Northwest Territories. Our high cost of living has us living in crowded areas and living in minimal accommodations, living with minimal food and basic needs.

I believe that most people are looking for a hand up, not a hand out. We need to bring everyone’s income levels up, and decrease the gap between the highest income earners and the lowest income earners. I think that we need to work on more jobs in the small communities. I understand that jobs are not all the solution to poverty; however, it is one aspect.

We need to help people with their unemployment rates in the small communities. In some of the smaller communities in the Northwest Territories there’s more people not working than working. We need to work on this situation.

My colleagues and I believe that we need to help solve poverty in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

My next question is concerning the completion of the bridge. Are there

repercussions to the contractor if it is not completed by the fall of 2012?

Mr. Speaker, my other concern or same type of concern is those costs being multiplied as the products such as milk is brought up by truck then added to the fuel costs by flying that product farther north. Has the department looked at the spin-off and the multiplier factor of that toll to the cost of the public of the Northwest Territories?