Good afternoon, colleagues. Today before we start, I’d just like to say happy Inuvialuit Day. It was yesterday. They signed their land claims 28 years ago. So to all the people in the communities, happy Inuvialuit Day in the Beaufort-Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Deh Cho Bridge is a major piece of public infrastructure that will serve the people of the Northwest Territories for years to come. This government intends to finish the bridge and have it open to traffic this year. I rise today to update Members and the public on steps the Department of Transportation and Ruskin Construction are taking to ensure our commitment becomes a reality.
Ruskin Construction has made considerable progress in the last six months. They have erected the two pylons, strung all the supporting cables and installed a third of the deck panels. Weather-sensitive work has recently begun, including grouting of the deck panels, installation of the formwork for constructing curbs, and construction on the abutments. Work has continued safely and I am pleased with the quality of the work being undertaken. Even with this progress, though, it has become clear that we will need to do more to get the bridge opened this fall.
Mr. Speaker, an independent engineering assessment has concluded that with additional resources, the bridge can be completed this year. To this end, the department and Ruskin Construction have recently come to an agreement-in-principle that will help us meet this shared goal. The agreement identifies key milestones in the schedule and provides additional resources to meet our timelines. The agreement also sets out how
additional costs will be shared by the two parties, with the GNWT’s share capped at just under $10 million. The agreement also resolves all outstanding claims between Ruskin and the GNWT, which greatly reduces future financial uncertainty on the project.
Major infrastructure projects are always challenging and the department and Ruskin will have to work hard to manage the project schedule risks that still remain. Decisive action is necessary to help achieve our goal of opening the bridge to traffic this fall. We have put an arrangement in place that will provide the resources to meet this objective. I am confident that both parties are committed to the successful completion of this project and am sure that we will be able to meet the challenge together. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce the release of the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs United Nations International Year of Youth Report.
The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming the year commencing on August 12, 2010, as the International Year of Youth.
MACA acknowledged, commemorated and supported the Year of Youth through a number of initiatives and programs that directly supported the objectives of the United Nations’ proclamation and our Assembly’s goal of building sustainable, vibrant and safe communities.
The report showcases the department’s involvement with youth across the Northwest Territories. It also provides a summary of programs delivered directly by the department and those of other organizations MACA supports.
From culturally focused programs to experience working abroad, MACA’s programs encompass a wide variety of leadership development opportunities.
The Traditional Games Tour program preserves our culture and teaches youth about our history. These games are an integral part of our territorial identity and in the last two years, staff have visited nearly two-thirds of the communities to deliver hands-on workshops in Dene and Inuit games.
The NWT Youth Ambassador Program was established as a permanent program in 2011-2012 after being successfully piloted at events like the 2007 Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse and the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver. In 2010-2011, Youth Ambassadors represented the NWT at the LA Times Travel and Adventure Show in Los Angeles, 2011 Aurora Week in Tokyo, Japan, and during the royal visit last summer.
Mr. Speaker, the primary objective of this program is to give youth a structured volunteer experience at major events and develop important life and job skills that they can carry forward. The unique opportunity this program provides is a testament to the Assembly’s commitment and investment in the future of our youth.
Mr. Speaker, some of the other programs supported by MACA include: the Gwich’in Elders and Youth Forum, the Nahanni River Trip, Camp Connections, Northern Youth Abroad, and the Dechinta Bush University Centre for Research and Learning.
I would like to thank the many community organizations and partners that continue to work with MACA to provide these programs and help shape successful futures for the leaders of tomorrow. I am confident that united with our ongoing support and commitment to our youth, we will continue to build strong leaders and a strong and sustainable future for our territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Abernethy.
Mr. Speaker, today I am pleased to highlight some of the new tools and resources that the Government of the Northwest Territories is using to modernize and update our recruitment practices and better communicate with job seekers in the Northwest Territories.
Rapidly changing technology gives us faster and more cost-effective ways to provide information about our programs and services, to promote the benefits of working with the territorial public service and to recruit new employees.
As part of 20/20: A Brilliant North, the Public Service Strategic Plan, the Department of Human Resources is creating a new careers website to encourage visitors to sign up for e-mail alerts when vacancies are posted on eRecruit. Too often we have seen talented applicants who have great skills, but may not have been the top-ranking applicant on a particular job opening, and wondered: how do we continue to engage these talented people for future opportunities? Through this process, the GNWT will create an on-line talent community whose members can be contacted periodically for opportunities and who can promote the GNWT as an employer of choice. People will be able to share government job opportunities across social media sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. This Assembly is committed to supporting our residents to enter and stay in the workforce. We know that Northerners are one of our strongest assets in recruiting friends and neighbours to the public service.
Northerners, and indeed all Canadians, have a high rate of participation in social media. The Department of Human Resources is preparing to launch our presence on LinkedIn, a social media site for professional networking. Currently, LinkedIn has close to 3,700 members in the Northwest Territories. Across Canada there are 5.2 million members, representing 64 percent of the professionally employed population, which makes Canada the second highest per capita user in the world. Jobs on LinkedIn are advertised to targeted candidates with education or work experiences that match current vacancies in an organization. Job advertisements on LinkedIn are shared an average of 11 times through social media networks.
The Department of Human Resources also recently launched a Facebook page. It has news releases, a link to the eRecruit site, promotional information, instructional videos, and the “Meet Our People” segments that showcase our employees. As this page becomes more popular, it will promote all of the department’s job-related activities.
Mr. Speaker, residents of the Northwest Territories are already using Facebook to connect with their friends and family. By using social media to promote job opportunities, we are using a medium that is already embraced by the people with whom we want to communicate. For people who prefer e-mail, that option will keep them aware of opportunities and give them time to apply for jobs that interest them.
Using tools and technology that enhance existing strategies to communicate about our opportunities is important for all residents of the Northwest Territories. Our work to strengthen and maintain a representative workforce supports this Assembly’s priority of building a strong, sustainable future for our territory. Providing people in all communities with opportunities to join the public service strengthens our programs and positions us to do even better work for the people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to use my Member’s statement to talk about the Grade 4 J.H. Sissons class who have been invited here today, and as Members will note, they are in the gallery right now.
I was invited some time ago to be a listener for their Authentic Audience Project as they wrote stories. Mr. Speaker, I’ll use my Member’s statement today to acknowledge each student and as I read their name and the name of their story, of course, I’d like them to rise so Members can see who they are.
Their teacher is Ms. Catherine Siegbahn, followed by the students: Cameron Bond, Fred the Pirana!; Ivan Ceria, New Super Carl Brothers; Joshua Donison, Bob’s Adventure; Kea Furniss, The Water Mystery; Safiya Hashi, The Black Hole; Dylan Heaton-Vecsei, The Video Game Wish; Ethan Kirizopoulos, Sheep Wars; Emmanuel Lamvu, The Magic Recorder; A.J. Lawrance, The Gibson Family; Riley Menard, The Mystery Locket; Rae Panayi, Mars Bar; Ruby Pigott, Lou and Spartan Journey in the Haunted Bar; Justin Powder, The Sheep Invasion; Paxton Ramm, It’s So Scary!; Samuel Schofield, Wizards; Zachary Sheck, Star Fox; Nathan Shereni, Mister Awesome; Tristan Sorensen, Purple People Versus Red People; Liam Stushnoff, Liam’s Story; Ronnie White, Dark; and Matthew Wiebe, Life in Roblox.
The last part of my Member’s statement today, I’d like to mention the fact that I will be tabling the stories at the request of the students and I’ll be officially tabling them during that part of our agenda today. As I mentioned to the students, I will return to class and show them that they will be on the record forever. They are fine pieces of work which I’ve had a chance to read. I was very impressed. Thank you for your time today. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. I, too, would like to welcome all Grade 4 students. One of our staff here, Cheryl Menard’s daughter Riley Menard, welcome back to the Legislative Assembly, Riley.
The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A few years ago the Department of Executive put together some pricing samples for basic goods across the Northwest Territories. A bag of flour, 2.5 kilograms, costs $4.15 in Yellowknife, $7.17 in Fort Simpson, $7.79 in Fort Good Hope, $8.25 in Inuvik and $8.94 in Tuk. I don’t know exactly how much flour costs in Fort Providence, but the good folks at the Bureau of Statistics tell us that our prices are at least 21 percent higher than Yellowknife’s.
If we’re going to make bannock, we need to mix the flour with lard and water, maybe some sugar. If lard costs $4 or $5 in Yellowknife, it will probably cost at least $10 in our most remote communities and no less than $7 elsewhere. If you want to get fancy and make your bannock with milk, you had better be rich, because a four-litre jug of fresh milk costs as much as $13.29 in some communities. At that rate, you won’t have any money left over for Klik. I hope you can cook your bannock over a campfire or woodstove, because by now you’ve already spent up to $18 to $20 in some places just for some bannock and you still haven’t made tea.
We all know that power bills are going up and up in all our communities. In Inuvik and Norman Wells natural gas has been shut off, so you better not switch your stove on at all. With the cost of living this high, if it costs a person most of their paycheque just to make bannock, we may have to change the way we live in the Northwest Territories.
Deh Cho communities are fortunate in some ways because we have a viable source of biomass surrounding our communities, we can grow our own food and we know how to hunt. When it comes to other basics like flour, sugar and Red Rose tea, they are difficult to produce locally and we are running out of options.
People in our communities are asking the GNWT to do all they can to reduce the cost of living and find creative solutions to make prices for our basic goods more reasonable for Northerners.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. It is well known that one of the greatest factors contributing to the high cost of living in the NWT is transportation. This is true even for communities that are on the highway system. Although for most cases, having a road does help. What is a real shame is that we have not kept up all the highway investments made in the past and as a result we are not getting the benefits and lower costs of living as we should be seeing from our existing infrastructure. I am, of course, thinking of Highway No. 7.
The poor condition of Highway No. 7 is not just an operations, maintenance and safety issue, it is also a cost of living issue. For example, the suppliers for the general store in Fort Liard now refuse to ship freight using the shorter route via Fort Simpson and instead insist on taking the long way around through Grande Prairie and up the Mackenzie Highway to Fort Liard because of the bad experiences they have had in the past on the No. 7 mudway. Imagine now how much extra fuel is being wasted to ship each load of goods hundreds of unnecessary kilometres. The financial cost is, of course, being passed on to the Fort Liard residents.
The poor state of the highway is also affecting a number of businesses that need to access it for their operations, such as Beaver Enterprises and the contractors who provide postal and medical travel services between Fort Liard and Fort Simpson. The costs increase because of travel delays and extraordinary wear and tear on vehicles and equipment. Community residents also bear the cost of extra damage to their vehicles and they need to fly instead of drive when the road is impassable.
Just a few days ago, a long-held dream of mine came true: to ride the washboard of Highway No. 7 with the Minister of Transportation. I was very pleased, as were my constituents. The Minister heard from a constituent who was very happy to see him take the initiative to come out and see and feel what the residents have been experiencing. Even though the conditions had been driven for several days, the road was still very rough and as soon as it rains, we know from experience, it will only go from bad to worse.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
I want to thank the Minister for making the trip and I hope now that he has himself dodged the potholes and rattled over the washboard, that he too will champion our cause.
To invest in a highway is to invest in a lower cost of living for the future. I look forward to the day when I see Highway No. 7 on the government’s books. Mahsi cho.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Back in July 2008, oil peaked to an alarming $147.30 a barrel. The world stood still, not knowing how high oil prices would go. Luckily, and I say luckily, oil has somewhat normalized to under $100 a barrel, but many believe that we’ll once again see the rise of this commodity to levels of $200-plus, and if so, one only needs to ask are we really ready for what would happen.
The North is very different from the rest of Canada in many ways. With our sparse population dispersed over many millions of square kilometres, the cost of logistics of energy distribution is a major issue to our high cost of living. Interestingly, our per capita energy use is almost two to three times the Canadian average, with electricity costs in some cases over 10 times higher than average per kilowatt hour.
Our overreliance on fossil fuels for diesel electricity generation will no doubt be our ultimate demise if we do not foster a different mindset of change. Although energy efficiency and energy conservation are recommended priorities by many agencies, our true saviour of our energy solution for the North lies with our hydro and transmission line initiatives. As our very Hydro Strategy shows, over 11,000 megawatts of hydro potential is for this region, yet we have only been developing less than 0.5 percent.
Now, I don’t want to discredit the other energy options such as wind, biomass, geothermal, solar and fuel cell technology, and although many reports may indicate mixed results with these alternative energy forms, small community populations could benefit and must be evaluated on a site-by-site basis, as some of these emerging technologies of energy could have potential use. However, I want to be clear: Our future for making real and positive changes in our northern cost of living lies in our hydro capacity build, our mini-hydro run-of-river potential and, more importantly, our transmission line strategy.
In the end, we need to act swiftly and surely on a hydro and transmission line strategy, as it’s through this technology that Northerners will try to see the energy costs lowered to levels of acceptable affordability. Oil prices are a daily ticking time bomb for many of us and we cannot wait for oil to double in price, for our electricity to double in price and for our heating oil to double in price, as living in the North would be impossible.
Let’s ensure our future. Let’s find the resources to build hydro and transmission line capacity now before it’s too late. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As people struggle with the high cost of living, providing adequate, affordable and nutritious food to our families can be a challenge. We are dependent on costly southern food, so the affordability of eating right is an issue. When we rely on food from the South, we export our purchasing dollars to the South, and instead of local jobs and businesses, we support jobs and investment afar. Greenhouse gas production increases from transporting food long distances.
The affect some communities have experienced from changes to federal air mail demonstrates the problem we all face. We aren’t meeting local food needs with local supplies. Some progress is being made towards developing our NWT food supply industry. We now have a start on community gardens in most NWT communities, the beginnings of fresh local produce and demonstrating the enormous potential remaining to be tapped.
Kids at schools such as the Kay Tay Whee School in Detah, and perhaps these children here today, provide a good example. They are learning that gardening is not only possible, but fun and tasty.
Fresh NWT-laid commercial eggs will be available inside our borders this fall. The Growing Forward Program supports small-scale food production, commercial development of northern agri-foods, support for the harvesting, processing and marketing of fish and meat, and for traditional harvesting. Exotic mushrooms, birch syrup and studies to expand berry harvesting are happening right here in Yellowknife. Great Slave Fisheries could, and should, meet both regional needs and a top-scale international fish market. I doff my cap to the intrepid core of food production enthusiasts and the food hunting and fishing public across all of our communities, but great challenges remain, some at a very basic level.
The NWT soil survey of 2008 indicates there are 1.3 million hectares of arable land in the South Slave and Deh Cho regions alone, yet only eight agricultural leases exist today, a total area of 170 hectares or one 7,000th of the total potential. Most basically, we lack a long-term plan for agriculture including an NWT food production policy that includes support for infrastructure development and access to land.
When we talk about reducing the cost of living, local food production is essential. By growing our capacity, we will improve the quality and price of healthy food, and opportunities for employment and investment, while building the resilience and self-reliance of our communities. Let’s develop a reliable food policy with the necessary supports and guide this opportunity to full success. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To live in the North it is very costly. We all know how much it is costing us to live in our small communities, even in Yellowknife. When we come to Yellowknife or when we travel to Edmonton, we do the necessary things. We have to shop. We do this to seize the opportunity to bring back cheap groceries, clothing or material. A lot of our people are shocked to see how much things cost in Yellowknife. I am definitely in awe to see the prices in Edmonton. It has been reported by our government that to live reasonably well in Sachs Harbour, you would have to make about $95,000 a year. Do we have those jobs in Sachs Harbour that pay $95,000 a year? Maybe a few.
In the Sahtu our dollar is not the same as the Yellowknife dollar or even the Edmonton dollar. You may be wondering why I am saying this. According to the consumer price index of April 2012, we in Yellowknife pay a bit more than the Edmonton prices, and in the Sahtu we pay double the price, so our dollar is definitely less.
Last weekend, during my stopover in Norman Wells, I was approached by a lady. I asked her about the shopping in Norman Wells. She said, my God, you should look at the bag of flour I had to buy. Twenty pounds is $43. I went to Yellowknife. I just about fainted in the Extra Foods store because of the price they pay there. She said, good thing the hospital was close by. I had to get some medical attention, she said. She was making a joke out of it, but she said the price we pay. In Yellowknife for 20 pounds of flour it’s $12.98.
My colleagues know, for the North and the Sahtu, how high costs are in our small communities. We need to continue to let Ottawa know that we are no different than the people in the South. Quality means our dollar should be of equal value to the southern dollar. As I said, a bag of flour should be the same price as a bag of flour in Edmonton, Sahtu or in Yellowknife. It can be done, Mr. Speaker, just like our bottle of whiskey is the same price in Norman Wells and Edmonton. They pay the same price.
The federal government will be hosting a public meeting in Norman Wells on the Nutritious North Program on June 11th. I hope my people speak their mind then. It is my hope…
Your time for Member’s statement has expired.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. It is my hope that our region and other regions will be treated fairly and acknowledged once and for all that our currency has been stretched to the limit in all of our communities. Please, we need help from this government.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As you can tell, we are going on a theme here. We are talking about the high cost of living in the Northwest Territories. For anybody that doesn’t see it, it would be a good opportunity to go into the communities and see how hard our people have to struggle in the smaller communities.
This is something that affects us all. We talk about the high cost of food, but it does affect our communities, where we’re actually putting people into poverty throughout the Northwest Territories.
We had a good discussion today on mental health and addictions and how people who go into poverty get stressed out, they get depressed, they get a sense of hopelessness; hopelessness within the system, within our government, within our community and with our community leaders and territorial leaders. We need to take action where we can help our people out and get a comfortable type of living just so they can live.
The cost of living is so high in the Northwest Territories that the Minister of Housing and the department of Housing put in a Rent Supplement Program, and I applaud him for that to help the working poor, the people who do have jobs and live in good living conditions, but they have a hard time making it in their communities. So I applaud the Minister and his department for that, for helping us and assisting us that way. However, with the increase in our electricity and our energy bills and the money taken away from our energy initiatives, we’re putting more money away in this government. That’s affecting our people. I always talk about if we invest now, we don’t have to pay later and our people will have a better, healthier lifestyle.
The Minister of Human Resources mentioned today he has to modernize the Recruitment Strategy, which is great because he needs to find innovative ways because we’re having a hard time getting professionals in the North within certain jobs because of the high cost of living. It’s hard to get people who want to come up here and try to make a living when all of their money is going to pay bills, pay for groceries, pay fuel costs, market rent or the high cost of living with the houses. It’s a reality. We see it here in Yellowknife, we see it in Inuvik, we see it in the smaller communities.
It’s time that we help our small communities and start making some really good decisions in here that will help our people in the Northwest Territories.
Your time for Member’s statement… Okay. Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Along with my 12 colleagues, I’m concerned with the growing cost of living in the North. Many people are finding it difficult to pay their monthly bills. Every time you turn around, the cost of food, water, taxes, fuel and, more recently, the price of power is going up. These people are the majority of the Northwest Territories, the general public, and the high cost of living especially affects the middleclass and lower-income people throughout the North.
The public is looking to this government to find ways to reduce the high cost of living. Many people are finding ways to reduce their costs and reduce their dependence on power and fuels.
My experienced colleagues have demanded that this government look at ways to reduce the cost of living. I would like to discuss two ways I feel that can be effective and it’s attainable during the life of this Assembly.
I believe that biomass is a great return on investment. It is a renewable resource; it is a product of a valuable commodity: lumber. Biomass also has great potential for heat and for power as well.
The second tool that I believe this government can use to reduce the costs is through the hydropower system and the expansion of our power system. The expansion of the hydro system must link to the southern grid to both NWT hydro systems. The system then can expand north up the Mackenzie Valley.
The high cost of living is a growing monster. Because these high costs are spreading to business as well, all residents are affected and they are affected in the cost of fuel, food, rent and all aspects of people’s lives. We need to come up with a plan to stop and reduce the escalating cost of living in the North. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Electricity, we can’t live without it. We grumble every time the power bill comes in. It drives up the costs of living in our communities. Next to food and rent or housing costs, our power bill is the one element that most contributes to our high cost of living in the North.
Two and a half years ago the government reviewed electricity rates in the NWT. As a result, power rates across most of the NWT were changed, for the better, mind you. Those rates were frozen for two years. Those two years are up right now and we’re about to feel the result of that freeze as our power bills are set to increase 25 percent in the next three and a half years. To soften the blow, the government now chooses to subsidize that rate increase instead of addressing the root causes of our high power bills.
We need to reduce our reliance on diesel generation and look to green, renewable sources of power. We had the opportunity to start down that road three years ago. Instead of pouring money into subsidies we should have applied that money to energy initiatives. Initiatives like determining alternative sources for power generation, greener sources, cheaper sources. We did not.
In 2009 the general view of those consulted on electricity rates was that it was time for the creation of a long-term vision for electricity and almost all believed that the GNWT should develop, direct and lead such a vision. The GNWT chose the easy road and left any thought of a vision behind.
It will take a long time to transform any vision into real projects to achieve cheap power sources for each and every one of our communities. That’s not a reason not to start. The 16th Assembly showed some recognition of the urgency of the issue and committed $60 million to energy projects over the life of the Assembly. In the 17th Assembly that funding has come to a screeching halt, nowhere to be found.
We can’t keep throwing money at our high power rates and taking such short-term actions. We have to take a longer-term view of the problem and that means putting money into the 2012-2013 budget to attack the root causes of our high power bills. If we don’t, we’re doomed to ever-increasing power bills, an ever-increasing cost of living, and an exodus of people leaving the NWT because of it.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Colleagues, before we go on I would like to remind you that when a Member is speaking, the mics can really pick up sidebar conversations. Please give the Member the attention they are due for their statements. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my Member’s statement will be on the price of fuel. Before I get into that, many people in the Mackenzie Delta right now are out on the land boating, hunting muskrats, ducks, enjoying life up there. One of their biggest challenges is the price of fuel.
In Aklavik many residents pay $1.88 for one litre of gas. In Tsiigehtchic it’s $1.77. In Fort McPherson, which was the least expensive in the Mackenzie Delta, it’s $1.65.
Many people in Aklavik would like to see some type of subsidy for their gas. The gasoline in Tsiigehtchic is subsidized but, as you can tell, it doesn’t make much of a difference compared to the community of Fort McPherson, which is 57 kilometres away.
I believe that this government needs to do something to tackle this problem and give everybody the same type of fuel prices throughout the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again I’d like to recognize the J.H. Sissons Grade 4 class led by their teacher Catherine Siegbahn. I want to thank them for attending today’s session. As promised, I will see them later next week and show them where their stories are tabled on the official Hansard forever. Thank you again and thank you for listening attentively.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also would like to welcome the Grade 4 class and especially recognize an extraordinary young lady, Ms. Rae Panayi. I would as well like to recognize a fiddler extraordinaire, Mr. Cameron Bond.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. I’d like to welcome all visitors to the public gallery here today. Thank you for taking an interest in our proceedings. Thank you and welcome.
