Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The opening remarks of the Premier, I believe, are certainly positive. But the comments that I have heard from the Premier in this forum this afternoon, supercede any comments that he had written. I was more than pleased to hear the comments coming from the Premier, as regards who is responsible in a community for the betterment of the community. I would encourage the Premier to educate all of us, all of the people of the Northwest Territories, as to who is responsible for creating economic activity. The government cannot create economic activity. It can facilitate it. But the spark has to come from individuals or groups of individuals.
I would certainly commend the Premier and encourage him to continually educate the people of the Northwest Territories. Educate them about mobility; that we cannot bring jobs to the people. People have to be prepared to get educated, get up and go and get the jobs. That may be a little slow progress, but I think it is a fair way to treat people, instead of trying to fool them that the government can do all these things. I would encourage the Premier to continue to encourage students to stay in school, about the importance of getting an education. I wonder about the number of people in the Northwest Territories, students and adults, who did not take advantage of the education system that was put in place, and are continuing to get education. I get the feeling that that is all we do in the Northwest Territories, is continually educate people. I think there is a difference between educating and retraining people.
The Premier also talked about the socio-economic agreement. In this one he talks about guaranteeing over half the jobs. I think that may be a little premature to suggest that we are guaranteeing that number of jobs. There are so many loopholes in this agreement, that it does not guarantee what the Premier is proposing. There are so many outs for the company. One of the outs is, I think it is reasonable, assuming that there are sufficient and qualified northern residents, also the percentages of employment, they talk about it as an objective to be achieved. There is nothing in this agreement that has any teeth to put penalties in place for non-compliance with the agreement. I would just like to ensure that the people of the Northwest Territories are not too anxious that there are guarantees that may not be able to be lived up to by this government.
I would also encourage the Premier, as has been done by the member from Tuk, that I think there is a perfect opportunity as regards the potential creation of jobs. I think building an infrastructure such as was proposed, Roads to Resources, I think it is extremely timely, from the situation that the federal government were able to support Bombardier, as the Premier has mentioned. I think there is a perfect opportunity for them to contribute to the north at this time.
In closing I would suggest that the best strategy that the government can take is to create the atmosphere where business can do what it is good at, creating jobs. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.