Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I would like to talk about a reference that was made by one of my colleagues yesterday in committee of the whole. The inference made was that the companies that come to do business in the Northwest Territories are just going to automatically deal with northern companies because we are here, because we are competitive and because we are going to go after their business. This was in relation to BHP and the fact that there was business going on between BHP and northern companies prior to any socio-economic agreement being signed or put in place by this government.

In thinking about those and reflecting on those remarks Mr. Speaker, it comes to mind that we have had many things in the north over the years. We have had uranium. We had had oil. We have had gas. We have had gold. We have had zinc mines. We have had many things. We have seen companies come in and reap the benefits of these natural resources that are here in the Northwest Territories and unfortunately many times these benefits have flown right over our heads. There has been nothing and no arrangement in place with teeth in it to keep these jobs and these monies in the Northwest Territories. I could give you an example here. I have had research pull out some old newspaper articles from Hay River. When Colomac, before they fired up their operation, their gold mine, Royal Oak Mines, big newspaper headlines in Hay River read "Colomac Chooses Hay River as Base", "Hay River Pickup Point for Colomac Mine", and how excited we were when we heard these things in Hay River. As time went on, eventually the pickup point, the contract was cancelled. Now today we know that there has been recently a memo sent out to staff of Colomac telling them that they can pick up their quick tickets at the airport here to come out of Edmonton. We were down to eight residents in Hay River that were actually working for that mine. Now for something like $200 a rotation, they can get picked up in Edmonton and dropped off at the mine.

So, I think it is very clear and my point is, Mr. Speaker, that it is about time that we did have agreements with these companies that come here and tap and take advantage of our natural resources. It is about time that those agreements did have some teeth in them. I really would like to applaud the effects of Minister Kakfwi and of his department on putting such an agreement in place, because I am still quite convinced that if history repeats itself, we would not be reaping those benefits but for those efforts and that agreement. Thank you.

-- Applause