Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday we talked about and debated the direct link between education and job opportunities. However, the net result of discussions was that we had to do more. Government cannot create all the employment opportunities but it can provide the stimulus for
economic growth by the usage of tax credits, providing cost-effective re-training for the new reality of the 90s and beyond.
Mr. Speaker, it is easy for us to sit here and pontificate but we all know it is harder to actually make change. We need a process to discuss possible alternatives to downsizing. I know that we will be meeting as a Nunavut Caucus to talk about job-sharing, flexible hours of work et cetera in Iqaluit in the coming months, but we have to do something now that will carry on in the whole Northwest Territories before and during the run up to 1999. Mr. Speaker, this is not a grand standing ploy but an honest attempt to seek other solutions to impending job losses and hopefully find a workable solution.
As the MLA representing the largest community and the largest public service outside Yellowknife, I make this offer sincerely and with expediency. I do not want to see my family, friends, neighbours and constituents laid off. There will have to be lay-offs but these could be minimized with discussions, as I have outlined, with our NWTTA and UNW partners. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.