Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is going to be addressed to the Premier, who is also responsible for the portfolio of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources. Hay River, as a community, had made quite a bit of effort and hard work in the last few years to try and attract people who were working in the North in the mining industry to consider Hay River as a viable and economic community to live in.
We were very pleased when we were successful in having the Colomac Mine choose Hay River as a point of departure for their employees. At first there was not a tremendous response by the employees to live in Hay River and many travelled from quite a far distance to catch the plane out of Hay River into the mine. However, over the last several months, the idea of living in Hay River has started to catch on and the research department tells me that presently half of the employees of Colomac Mine are now northern residents. I can't tell you the exact number of those 50 per cent that actually live in Hay River but I know that it is a significant number. We were very disheartened to learn that there has been a tentative plan now made by Colomac Mine to make Edmonton, Alberta, their point of departure for employees working in the mine.
It would also seem that another prospective mine is also looking at bringing people straight from the South in to work in the North. This is very discouraging. I would like to ask the Minister what can this government realistically do to stop this kind of thing and prevent this from happening more in the future. Thank you.