Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in June, in response to the government's previous budget, I had stressed that we had to change the way we do business. I said that we needed to find ways to meet the priorities of this Assembly, which we have presented to the public in a mandate for this government. I said that there are things that we need to do. We need to create more jobs, economic opportunities, lower the costs of living, especially in small communities.

For the benefit of the public and to remind Cabinet, the MLAs on this side of the House represent all the small communities in the NWT. Many of our biggest challenges are in the small communities. The Premier mentioned a combined federal-territorial initiative looking for renewable solutions for off-grid diesel communities. Those solutions exist. Colville Lake has proven that. It is a green economic opportunity that can bring hundreds of millions of dollars into the 26 off-grid communities over the next 10 years, creating economic opportunity, lowering the cost of energy and living, and protecting the environment. If we take advantage of opportunities like this that create jobs and economic opportunities, we will see fewer people in correction facilities, fewer people in our courts, fewer people in hospitals, and fewer children taken into government care.

I'm going to digress a little because I want to make a point about how much life has changed for people in small communities in the last couple of generations. Our elders would say, "caribou came from the stars. There are as many caribou as there are stars in the sky." This was a beautiful picture that invoked the land of plenty. Our people followed the caribou, lived off the caribou. That was the way of life. We were rich in that way and worked hard.

Now, look at today. Many of our people cannot hunt caribou that go by the lake next to their community, caribou they can see from their windows. I can't even begin to describe the damage it does to the traditional lifestyles and knowledge, but I can talk about the economic impact and how it relates to our budget.

Today, people in the small communities are spending millions of dollars to buy food they used to be able to hunt. They cannot get caribou, and many people cannot get a job, either. This is the biggest problem we have in the Northwest Territories. In regional centres and small communities, only 57 per cent of our people of working age have jobs compared to 79 per cent in Yellowknife. Our smaller communities, the average percentage of people employed is in the 40 per cents. If we could raise community employment rates by 20 per cent, we would eventually eliminate most of the low-return social spending.

When the last budget was introduced in June, I urged us all to imagine what would happen if we could boost employment rates to 70 per cent in our small communities. If we could do that, we would need less income support, less social housing, and people would be in better health; we would have better attendance in our schools. I'm going to keep saying this until we actually do something about it, however long it takes, Mr. Speaker.

Let's talk a bit more about low-employment impacts in small communities. In 2010, more than one in four families or 27 per cent had income less than $30,000 a year. Think about that and think about the price of groceries our people have to pay in most of the communities. Thirty thousand dollars a year is not much for a family to live on. People of low incomes and no job tend to have poorer health. They're at high risk for addictions, alcoholism, and criminal activity. Their children are more likely to be taken into Child and Family Services. That is a simple fact, not just here but all over the world. By creating jobs, these very same people can enjoy better health, more of the children will graduate from high school, the need for social housing will fall, and people will be less dependent on government in general, and income support will be needed less.

Mr. Speaker, our tradition is to respect and care for our elders, and our population is aging. It is important that we encourage and help elders to stay in their own homes and in their communities. To do that, we need to do some home retrofits. It will help elders and be good for local economies. Materials will be bought from local suppliers. Tradesmen will go to work in the communities, regional centres, and Yellowknife. We also need to hire and train more home care workers in communities. Again, this will create jobs, improve the health of seniors, lower the cost of our healthcare in the future. If we do not do these things, more elders will be lost from the communities and go into long-term care at about $139,000 per senior per year. It also disrupts the communities when the elders leave.

Mr. Speaker, I want to turn for a minute to what the government proposes to do about jobs in this budget before us today. There is more money in a Small Community Employment Support, which is a subsidy program, not a job creation program. It is good, and I thank the government for the progress here, but it will not bring real change unless we modify the program and allow job creation. We have to make that change, Mr. Speaker. We can't subsidize a job that doesn't exist in the first place. The government must spend every penny allocated into this program.

Unfortunately, any gains we make here will be wiped out by job losses in other areas. If this budget passes as is, the government proposes to cut more than a hundred jobs in the name of fiscal restraint if Aurora College is included in that number. Even if some jobs are vacant, many people will be laid off. Some will leave the territories, taking their families with them. Some will sell their homes, affecting the housing markets and other home owners' equity. Local businesses will feel the pain, too. Our government will ultimately lose population-based funding from the federal government: $30,000 per person per year. That adds up fast. If only 25 families of four leave the NWT, our government would lose $3 million per year in transfer payments from Canada plus any taxes the people would have paid if they had lived here. Unfortunately, we are going to lose more than 25 families in this territory.

Our government is following in the footsteps of Dominion Diamond's news in November that its headquarters is moving to Calgary; about a hundred more jobs lost, more families lost, more damage to our economy. I guess it's hard to criticize Dominion Diamond Corporation when our government is doing the same thing.

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure that, right now, cutting a hundred jobs is the right response. Not only that but the Regular Members have never agreed that it's right to cut government spending by $150 or even $100 million during this Assembly.

Regular Members have not agreed to wipe out in four years of this Assembly all the need for short-term spending that has grown since 2008. We can't do that in today's economic climate. Reducing our borrowing over a longer period is the best we can do and the most responsible thing to do. These cuts are hijacking our priorities as an 18th Assembly. To me, if this government is going to save that kind of money it should at least be able to create some jobs somewhere. For example, our government could do a better job supporting small business and which is the backbone of our society. Regular Members have urged the government to reduce the difficulty of starting new business and reduce tax of small businesses. We've also asked for an increase to the Support for Entrepreneurs and Economic Development program, known as SEED. This program promotes community business, enables networking and business development, assists start-ups of micro-businesses and promotes businesses in key sectors such as tourism, energy and prospecting.

Regular Members push the government to increase mineral incentive program and targeted assistance for the fishing industry. We had asked for a small expansion in the Community Access Program. This is the best program we have for creating seasonal jobs and opening traditional use areas for the communities. It provides employment, training and improves community access to grab all they need. It could also make workers eligible for employment insurance from Canada. These measures will create jobs or help save existing jobs. The cost of these modest steps to improve our economy and generate revenue is less than $3.5 million. None of these requests are in the budget today, Mr. Speaker.

A lack of jobs and opportunities has another impact on our communities and our young people are in crisis. Deep hopelessness and addictions are leading to suicides and attempted suicides. It's not just alcohol abuse, Mr. Speaker. Today's young people are faced with a ready supply of prescription drugs and crack cocaine. It is truly shocking compared to what most of us experienced when we were young. Some are still young, but anyway.

Mr. Speaker, more prevention, more intervention are sorely needed. I have spoken often about improving our addiction services in general. The need is greater than ever right now. Addictions are a factor in most of our social problems we're facing in the NWT including poverty.

For three straight Assemblies I've tried to get better access to addiction treatment, more attention to prevention. How many lives could we have improved if we had done a better job ten years ago? How much money could we have saved on the health and justice programs?

I have to shake my head, Mr. Speaker, when I think about the families I know myself and lots of other families all over the Northwest Territories. It's a sad, sad situation. We can't let this neglect continue into the next generation of young people. We have to support their learning and the health of the people around them. Early childhood development and junior kindergarten are huge issues that we've been dealing with for the last two assemblies. Investments in our youngest children is the best we can make; real investment in the health of our people. Research shows that a seven-fold savings in social spending over the person's lifetime. If we spend $3 million invested in early childhood development today saves $21 million on the long run.

Regular Members have fought hard for full funding to implement junior kindergarten. We do not want teachers lost or less support to other grades. The government has compromised a bit on this, but it's not enough. It is not acceptable for junior kindergarten to come at the cost of other young students and rainy day fund saved by the education authorities. This government must fund junior kindergarten. It is as simple as that, and let's get on with it.

Mr. Speaker, lowering the cost of living is another important priority of this government's mandate. Lowering the cost of living is hard to do. New roads should help lower the cost of goods in some communities and provide some jobs. I hope so. I don't think much else has been done to lower the costs of living and measures like big increase to land leases rent just do the opposite.

In all my years as MLA, I have never seen Regular Members apply so much pressure to improve the budget as the one we are talking about here today. We now have the details in front of us showing what Cabinet proposes to do. After all our efforts, more than 100 jobs are on the chopping block. Sunsets and reductions would see $69 million cut from departmental budgets after $53 million already cut in this current year. With all of these cuts it seems to be no problem to buy defunct Tungsten Mine for $2.6 million and a bankrupt transportation company for $7.5 million.

I'm not saying these are necessarily bad things, Mr. Speaker, as we need to move freight and barge things into the communities, but what I am saying is if Cabinet can find $10 million for these things we should be able to find a few million dollars to create jobs, help our people, stimulate our economy in the keys areas.

Mr. Speaker, Regular Members want to see some changes to this budget, the first full year's budget of the 18th Assembly. It has been a frustrating process, but we are still willing to work with our Cabinet colleagues on the details. I believe that we are listening to our constituents and what our constituents have to say. Let's do our best for them and make good on our promises. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.