Tom Beaulieu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe that both the priorities and the fiscal framework should be looked at together. Having said that, can the Minister ensure that, should he be providing the fiscal framework prior to his strategic planning session next week, all leverage dollars be also included in the fiscal framework? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Premier also provide, should it become a standing item in Cabinet, can the Premier commit to providing regular updates to the Standing Committee on Social Programs on the cost of living? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Premier then develop a mandate for Cabinet to report, and report the mandate on the cost of living back to this Assembly?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize my brother Harris and my niece Jolene Russell in the gallery today.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in relation to that, can I ask the Minister to also provide us with the most updated five-year infrastructure acquisition plan including all projects that are leveraged?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I have a question for the Minister of Finance. There have been a lot of discussions on this side of the floor of the much needed infrastructure like highways and various public infrastructures in the community. I would like to ask the Minister of Finance if he can provide this Assembly with a fiscal framework for the GNWT prior to the strategic planning session next week.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Premier consider putting the cost of living as a standing item on the Cabinet’s agenda?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the cost of living in Lutselk’e are very high due to freight costs, no all-season road, cost of transportation, flight costs, the cost of gas for boating and snowmobiling back and forth, all translates a very high cost for food, and power costs in Lutselk’e is also very high. I would like to ask the Premier today if he would consider looking at appointing a Minister to be the point Minister for the cost of living, similar to a Minister of Youth and Seniors. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the NWT has enjoyed the benefits of a pristine, natural, regulated environment as a sustained traditional lifestyle for centuries. A very large impact is about to make dramatic changes to the northern environment as we know it. This is climate change. The time frame for this change is very short.

Although the climate change issue has been in the public for some time, people are still unaware of the predicted consequences specifically for the NWT. Even if people worldwide were to stop pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere today, we face very serious...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to thank the Premier for his sessional statement, as well. In my own priorities for what I thought that the government should be doing during the upcoming strategic planning process, I would like the government to look at targeting various areas across the Territories. Some of the main areas that I would like to see targeted, for example, in our goal of having healthy and educated people across the territory, I have always felt that it would be a task that would be difficult to achieve, that we are trying to target everybody across the Territories from the...