Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My comments on the Northern Employment Strategy that has just been presented in the House are that it is a good strategy and that the government is going in the right direction on this. However, I am somewhat concerned about the need for this government to take a coordinated approach to what they are doing. Ever since the first time that the Premier and the Finance Minister stood up and talked about the northern economy, they have been talking about reducing the presence of the government and increasing support to the private sector, which is where they believe the jobs will be created. I believe that to be true. I am somewhat amazed when I listen to the questions received by some of the federal candidates in the election coming up on Monday and the apparent belief by the people and the general public that it is the government's job to create jobs. They think that the government is going to have a large impact on the unemployment statistics. However, it is the government's role to create a climate and environment for job creation, but I do not believe it is the government's role to create jobs. That is what I am hearing from this government and that is good to hear.
However, when I had an opportunity to spend two months in my riding, when I go back to my community I hear entrepreneurial private sector individuals talking to me about initiatives and actions of the government which are scaring them and hurting their businesses. This is where this coordinated approach that I am talking about needs to be kept in mind. I hear from a local Internet provider that he has not heard definitively that his investment in the community is going to be protected when this new government funded service comes into place. He is still concerned. I hear contractors that are worried about getting business because of the non-competitive contracting that they see going on around them. I hear about the government competing with the private sector in areas of supply. In one instance, where two individuals have gone together and invested considerable money in a company and set up a business and now somebody in the civil service gets a bright idea to play business for a while and decides they will go on a power buying trip and start redistributing product to government agencies in the western Arctic. That, to me, is part of the problem. It is uncoordinated.
I also see initiatives that the government has taken and has spent considerable money on, have gone a long ways down the road on something and then changes direction mid-stream on things, as opposed to following through with them when they knew that it would take a certain amount of time to get something off the ground.
I am concerned about cuts to core funding for sectors that we already know could be and have in the past been viable, that do create jobs.
Although this is a new initiative, perhaps in our deficit reduction exercise we took away some of the underpinnings of some of the viable sectors where there is a considerable amount of employment and now we are, in a sense, replacing this under this new initiative. I have no problem with the various areas that the government is stating, community futures, infrastructure programs, training, education, and the coordination of the departments, but I do find, when you actually get right down to the grass roots level where the people live and work, there are some contradictory things that are happening. That is an area we need to address.
Some of the viable sectors in my community are the service and supply, harvesting and primary production. If we are going to have sustainable jobs in those sectors, we as a government need to continue to find ways to support those areas. The government should only be generating government jobs to the extent that they are required to efficiently deliver programs and services that cannot be sensibly and reasonably carried out by the private sector.
We look at some of the mega projects that we have our hopes pinned on here in the west, at least, with the mineral sector. We look at the big mega projects like BHP, we look at rejuvenation of the oil and gas exploration in the Beaufort Delta and these are good, but on a smaller scale, the same is true in the north as is true across Canada. Jobs are created by small and medium sized business. That has been the beauty of the economy in Hay River over the years. We do have our large employers like the Power Corporation, NTCL, Kingland Ford, we have those larger employers, but what we have is a whole lot of people who employ six, eight, and ten people. They find their market niche and they create that employment in the private sector.
I agree with the government's approach that we know we cannot afford the same degree of government jobs we have had in the past. So that is lessening. Now we want the private sector to step in, but we have to make sure that we provide assurances and as much support as we reasonably can to see that happen and not be taking actions which contradict that position. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.