Thank you, Madam Speaker. I want to also thank the government for their –
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Well, you know, when there were things that we talked about in September, the government certainly has listened. I have witnessed this over a period of time that some of the responses to the Sahtu region, because of the oil and gas activity, that we need help in the region. The government has responded in the budget. I have listened to some of our committee meetings and there are some things you win and some things you don’t win. That’s part of the process here.
For the people who elected us in this consensus style of government, this is the only opportunity that we, as Regular Members, have a peek at the proposed budget. We compete against the department assets, against the department’s plans, from the communities’ plans, from what things that we see when we go back to our ridings as what we need in the community. There’s a big wheel there that we try to get in there to change it. I want to say that, still, the government needs some constructive criticism in this budget and I want to do that when I go back to our communities in the Sahtu.
Still in Colville Lake there is no RCMP station. One of our goals is to provide safety and protection for our people. There is no physical nurse in Colville Lake. We don’t have that yet. There are a number of communities in the Northwest Territories that do not have the safety, health, or protection of these two enforcement departments – Justice and Health. Some of our schools need to be upgraded or replaced. Members here talk about that. We have Members all around here that know that.
In the budget I know the government is doing its best with what we are receiving. We get about 35, if we look at $100 of the budget, we get about $0.75 from the federal government. We’re still under that rule, yet until we come to a place where we will be in more control of the budget.
The government with its bureaucrats at the head looking at how we protect our assets and what things we need in the Northwest Territories, we go through that process. The government, with the Cabinet on this side, has listened to us. Sometimes we don’t think they are, but they are listening to us. It’s a real juggle as to what we do. The Minister of Finance has always said, our needs far outdo the money that we’re getting from the federal government or the money that we can produce in the Northwest Territories.
I’ve been in the House for close to nine years and I will continue, still, to fight for the value of protection, health for the people of Colville Lake. I will still fight for the things that we need in the Sahtu, the basic requirements that other communities have in the Northwest Territories. Just last year the government finally put proper toilets in our schools and health centres. It’s a good thing.
With this budget I do want to say thank you to the Ministers for responding to some of the needs in the Sahtu. We are competing against other needs in the Northwest Territories at different levels. Our region is developing. It’s developing into a region. We have the have-nots and haves in the Northwest Territories. We have proper running schools. In some of the communities we do not have some of the courses, or even some of the facilities in our schools. Mr. Menicoche talked about them. Yet we juggle our needs. Some communities have hospitals, regional hospitals, that now can have their babies being delivered there at the same community. Some communities have to fly in the young mothers and stay in Yellowknife and live there for a month and have their babies delivered in those hospitals. That’s just the situation we’re in.
I hope that we come to a place where there is some sort of equalization amongst our communities so that all the communities, for the Minister of Justice, that we could get money so that he can put RCMP in Tsiigehtchic, in Colville Lake, I’m not too sure of the other communities, Gameti maybe, Wekweetì, all around, that our communities then know that the government is true to their word in terms of protection and justice. That they can sleep just like us. We sleep and we know that there’s an RCMP station in our community. We want to give them that serenity, that feeling of being looked after. Why do my people go to a health centre not knowing that there’s a nurse that’s trained to look after their needs? We should have that kind of money to have nurses in our community.
This budget talks about the haves and have-nots. That’s our job as MLAs, as Ministers, and as MLAs on this side to hold them accountable to where the really essential needs are being taken care of. I want to say that during our discussion here, those are the questions that we ask the Ministers to be accountable for and look at some of these things. Some of our communities are just at the brink of becoming a developing community or a developing region. Some of them are still undeveloped. We need to look at that.
I applaud my Members on this side here for speaking up and asking for the needs of their own constituency, their own ridings, and the Ministers for listening. You’ve come back with a good budget for me. It tells me that you Ministers are doing your job and you’re helping my region, and other regions also, for their wishes. It’s always the same. If you had enough money, we would do a lot. I know that. I see that. The struggles as to how we put some of our needs in our region.
I want to publicly say that to this government here and this budget here that we’re working hard. It takes a lot to make commitments and this budget address, hopefully, then will begin to look at some of the things that are very basic yet.
I said I’ve been here for eight years, close to nine years. God willing, I will finish my term and we will at least see some of these basic needs being looked at, being considered in the budget under the capital or O and M, that we can have some of these basic needs met in places like Colville Lake, Wrigley and Tsiigehtchic. Our people know that the value of protection and health care is paramount in the government’s eyes to say that we can put a position there. That requires all of us to look at where we want to put our dollars. That’s a real challenge for us. We Northerners, MLAs would like a good challenge. We’d like a good challenge to know that, outside of this building here, some of our basic needs in our smaller communities are being met, not only in some of the larger centres where they get their services.
It’s a region, I want to let the Minister’s know, that I appreciate you responding very positively to what’s happening with the oil and gas. Thank you very much for continuing to work on the budgets. We win some, we lose some, but I think our wins are getting more and more because the Ministers, for me anyway, are listening to some of our needs in the Sahtu and in some of the smaller communities. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
