Mr. Chairman, I want to make some comments on this report, particularly under this heading, "Finding of the Review Project." Mr. Chairman, it states that, "The North and the people of northern communities are now in the middle of a long period of transition in which permanent communities and a more modern economy will be the dominant features of life. At this stage, however, the transition is not successful and the modern North is largely a 'welfare economy.'"

Mr. Chairman, this perspective on the North and its aboriginal population sounds like a statement one would find during the days when the North was managed by Ottawa and they had little or no understanding or appreciation of northern aboriginal culture and economy. Mr. Chairman, where does support for the domestic economy and traditional culture and values fit into this perspective? "A transition" to what? A southern economy based on industrial production and wage labour?

The report goes on to say that the project review group read the SCONE report and they are closely in line with the findings of the SCONE report. Mr. Chairman, the project group could not have possibly read and understood the background study prepared for the SCONE committee called "Strategy for Supporting the Domestic Economy of the Northwest Territories." If the project group had read and understood the recommendations of this report, they would not have been so insensitive in respect to the domestic economy and the importance of government transfer payments as a form of producer support, although most inadequate at this point.

Mr. Chairman, I see nothing in this report that approaches this question of redesigning our social welfare programs so they can be used to finance the production of food from the land. I agree with the authors of the report that welfare in itself tends to erode, rather than enforce, cultural values. However, the answer is not necessarily a modern northern economy that mirrors the industrial wage economy in southern Canada.

Mr. Chairman, the answer lies in designing producer support programs that channel a portion of welfare payments into supporting a strong and viable domestic economy. I just wanted to make those comments. Mahsi cho.