Thank you, Madam Speaker. I just have a few comments to our budget. Overall I think the budget is living up to the priorities that we set as the 17th Legislative Assembly. We’re addressing our housing needs in our territory. Housing is one of the major hurdles, I believe, in living in this territory, whether it’s in Yellowknife or our smaller communities. The price people pay for housing is really outrageous. Just from what I’ve seen in the capital here and also in the smaller communities, there are a lot of challenges that our residents face. I think that’s one of the reasons that we’ve seen a big decline in our population. You know, 2,000 people, that doesn’t sound like a lot, but with the size of this government I think we need to address that.
The cost of living in this territory, that’s one of our priorities and I think that we need to seriously look at the cost of living to live in this territory compared to the provinces. It’s really outrageous. I know our salaries do take that into consideration, but it’s a major hurdle. Also, living in many of the smaller communities that are isolated, the cost of living there is even greater.
Some of the projects, I know we’ve looked at our economic position in this territory and we really need to increase our economic base and infrastructure. We’re doing a lot of investments in our infrastructure, be we need to do more. We need to ensure that we’re in a position, whether it’s by the end of this Legislative Assembly or in the 18th, that the Mackenzie Highway is built. Create major projects like this for our residents. That also brings the cost of living down in those communities.
We’re also looking to start on the Mackenzie Valley fibre optic link. Those are the infrastructure projects that we need in this territory. It’s also a great opportunity for the Aboriginal groups to invest with this government. Partnerships like that, long-term investments that are going to see a lot of positive changes in the future. In this day and age everything is built around the technology and we’re in a great position here in this 17th Assembly to ensure that we build on that.
We’re also moving forward on the Inuvik-Tuk highway and I’m hopeful that in the next couple of years we see a big increase. I know there’s going to be more jobs, but to also include a lot of the companies in the area I believe is very important because everybody needs to prosper after these major projects.
I’m very happy to see that we’re also looking at a new diamond mine in this territory. There’s a big demand out there for diamonds. There’s such a big demand out there that any diamond mine that’s put in place, there’s no limit to what the demand is out there.
There’s a number of great investments that this territory is investing in. I mentioned already the declining population, but that’s something that we can encourage people to come here. As you know, there’s going to be a lot more jobs in devolution and I’m glad to see that we are actually implementing devolution. We have in place I believe it’s $15 million for the Aboriginal groups. That’s very encouraging, I believe, and we need to build on that moving forward.
We’re putting ourselves in a position to also update the Stanton Territorial Hospital, which is in much need. A number of us took a tour of that facility and it’s time to upgrade that facility. Many of our residents in the territory do travel here for medical situations and I believe it’s time to move forward.
Also, as mentioned, that Building Canada Plan, we haven’t really seen what the territory is going to get yet, but from what I’ve seen over the last couple of years, it’s very encouraging. We have partnerships with the federal government on the Inuvik-Tuk highway. That’s a great boost to our economy, I believe and moving forward I’m hopeful that we can have the same sort of partnership for the Mackenzie Valley Highway. As the Prime Minister stated that we must focus on one highway at a time and by the time the next one is done, we’re hopeful that we can begin on the Mackenzie Valley Highway.
It was also mentioned by the Finance Minister for making an investment of $27 million in new investments in healthy and educated people. That’s great. I was hoping that we could have implemented some of the initiatives that the committees requested be addressed and moving forward I’m hopeful that we can come to those terms.
Just to point out a few things that I wanted to address. I think that we have a great future. I’d really like to stress to people that the priorities that this government has set, there’s only one or two left that we haven’t already completed and I think that we’re on track. I really look forward to the next couple of years.
We do have to put a lot more focus on the poverty and addictions in the territory. With the closing of Nats'ejee K'eh, we should have had those programs in place for on-the-land healing. I know we are just in the stage now of developing those programs, but the people out there need assistance. A lot of traditional people know that, especially the older people. They know the benefits of having these programs on the land, and I’m very hopeful that we’re near the partnership with the Gwich’in to facilitate one up in the Beaufort-Delta. I know there are plans to put one in place near Fort Good Hope, and I’m sure that they’re developing something here in the North Slave also.
Other than that, I just wanted to have a few comments on the budget. Moving forward, I think that we are on track and I look forward to the next time that we have this budget. With that, thank you.
