Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have spoken at length in this House before through Members' statements and committee of the whole in support of the business incentive policy. I believe it is a policy that does need adjusting and modifying and refining at certain times and certainly there are areas right now that perhaps we should be looking at changing, but the basic essence of the policy, that being to support the purchase and supply of northern goods and services from northern companies, is still one that I believe this government should hold to. That is not some lofty, philosophical policy.

We need to look hard at why we would have such a policy in place. I think the answers to that are obvious. It increases labour development, it increases the numbers of jobs in the north, it enhances economic development, that is why we should support it. It is unfortunate that we cannot come up with a comprehensive look at quantifying the benefits versus the costs, because I am quite certain that if we could identify the benefits of the business incentive policy, every Member of this House would be satisfied that this is a policy well worth keeping and perhaps with some minor adjustments.

My friend, my colleague, Mr. Steen, has referred to the big companies that have become millionaires under the assistance and subsidy of the business incentive policy. Could I suggest that the big companies that have a presence in the north became big by working hard and they also have a big payroll, they employ a big number of northerners, and they have a big overhead to maintain. If they became that big, they generally employ quite a number of people and I do not think that we want to start playing around with that at a time when the public service is being reduced. I think we need to do everything we can to enhance growth in the private sector.

As a government we say we want to pull back, we do not want to be responsible for creating jobs, but we want to create an environment whereby the private sector can develop and create those much needed northern jobs. If we do not have the business incentive policy, what are the alternatives? That is something that we also have to consider. At a time when we are cutting back in our capital expenditures as a government too, we have to understand that there are small and medium sized construction companies that have grown up here in the north that are going to have a hard time coping and struggling with this drastic reduction in capital projects here in the north. They have to get through this time on a lesser amount of work and a lesser amount of projects out there, and I think that to start interfering with showing them preference is going to be a mistake. They are going to have a tough enough time hanging on through these hard times. If we think that the increase in rates of people who are requiring income support have gone up in this past year, I think that all we are doing is inviting that to escalate even further if we pull back this very important support to northern business.

With that, Mr. Chairman, I think that I should also actually touch on the issue of the manufacturing. Mr. Picco, my colleague from Iqaluit, raised a good point when he talked about manufacturing. Should there be a manufacturing policy that would require someone in Iqaluit to purchase out of the west? That is why I think that the 20 or 25 percent limit is a reasonable limit to put on as an added charge, on manufactured goods. If the cost of shipping and handling becomes prohibitive then, obviously, it would be over the 25 percent and those companies would not have that opportunity, but a 20 or 25 percent allowance for people manufacturing products in the north, I believe, is reasonable. Certainly there is a lot of manufacturing in my riding, but it is increasing in a number of other communities as well.

The reason why I think we could justify providing them with a greater northern preference allowance is because the type of work manufacturing is, it is more labour intensive, so it does provide greater benefits to northerners and there are not that many things that you can effectively manufacture in the north. We are kind of a captive market here to suppliers and manufacturers in the south, but if there is the odd thing that we can break away and sensibly manufacture here in the north, then I think this government should support that. Like I said, I wish we could quantify the benefits of this business incentive policy, because I am sure that everyone would see that it is well worthwhile and I will certainly be supporting its continuation and modifications where necessary. Thank you.