Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I should take a few moments to offer some response to the federal budget delivered by the federal Minister of Finance, Hon. Ralph Goodale. Mr. Speaker, as is the case with all government budgets, the devil is always in the details; I do appreciate Mr. Roland for providing some and I look forward to getting more into the details in the days to come. Nevertheless, I do like what I am hearing in the budget.

Mr. Speaker, most importantly, I believe we can say that the North is now definitely on the radar screen of the people who control our purse strings in Ottawa, including Prime Minister Martin. He has been to the North, I know personally, a number of times in the last 10 years, in the time that he was working to become the Prime Minister. I believe that he is more aware of the northern issues than any other Prime Minister we have had. I really think that we have to take note of the way the aboriginal issues and northern issues now hold a prominent place in this budget which is seen by most analysts as a low-spending/status-quo budget

Mr. Speaker, I also believe that the credit should also go to the Premiers and the Finance Ministers of this Legislative Assembly, including the new Finance Minister Roland and Premier Handley, who also was the Minister of Finance under Premier Stephen Kakfwi for four years. We have worked hard to push our northern agenda into the forefront of the federal government. As our federal MP said in the media, in our business the work never ends.

Sometimes we forget to recognize when we win; I think this is definitely on the winning side. Mentioning Ms. Ethel Blondin-Andrew, I do want to recognize her involvement in this. She has spent 16 years in Ottawa educating all of the players about our economic, social and cultural potential. I do believe that she plays an important role in advancing our agenda.

I look forward to seeing more about how the $90 million in northern economic development, $75 million in oil and gas and extra money that we are going to get will have…what sort of detailed implication that is going to have. Mr. Speaker, may I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement?

Speaker: MR. SPEAKER

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude her statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You have unanimous consent to conclude.

Sandy Lee

Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. Mr. Speaker, I do understand that these monies that were announced by the federal government on economic development, oil and gas and many other issues are not coming directly to the GNWT, but they are monies that will come to the North. I do believe it is incumbent on this legislature and the Cabinet to jump on every penny coming to the North and find the leakages so that we maximize our benefit.

There were lots of other areas, such as student financial support, where we know our GNWT program is under great strain. Any additional assistance that the federal government provides would lessen the impact and the pressure on our system, such as the $50 million one-time expenditure that Minister Goodale had announced. I think it gives breathing space and I know that we are looking at a $20 million deficit cut in the next two years, but you never know. If we keep working as a group and the Minister of Finance and the Premier keep working with the federal government, we may be able to get a break on that. I urge the Legislature to build on what we heard yesterday and keep going and to advance our agenda. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause