Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to talk a little bit about the history of the Government of the Northwest Territories. As Members are all aware, the Government of the Northwest Territories was moved north quite some time ago in the early 60's. At that time we had a commissioner by the name of Mr. Stewart Hodgson. He was the one who implemented and brought North the civil servants and set the government up in the Northwest Territories. At one point in my career, Mr. Speaker, I had the opportunity to talk to the Prime Minister of this country. One of the things that stands out in his mind, is when the
Northwest Territories had one elevator, he can remember it quite clearly when he was the Minister of Indian Affairs, but yet we had two elevator inspectors. That was caused by transferring the bureaucracy from one level to another.
What I would like to talk about a little bit today, Mr. Speaker, are negotiated contracts, the Business Incentive Policy, and the development of government by the people of the Northwest Territories. It seems like a long time ago now, Mr. Speaker, but it was not that long ago that the majority of the contracts in the Northwest Territories were tendered. I can remember quite clearly back in 1986 when we had a million dollar project in the riding of Tu Nedhe and when everything shook out of the wash, because it was tendered, a Yellowknife firm got it and the community and the riding of Tu Nedhe benefited less than one percent of the capital cost. That is one of the reasons the government of the day made the bold decision to start negotiating contracts.
They also made a bold decision of implementing a Business Incentive Policy. The government of the day had decided at that time it was a benefit to our communities to negotiate contracts. It is a benefit to the government to negotiate contracts. Everybody always hears why we have so little money left to spend on capital projects. The money that we do spend on capital projects should stay in the community. That same capital project money should be used to help train the community, help implement programs in the community, and help people grow in the community by carrying out their own projects. Mr. Speaker, this government in its wise decision has developed a policy on community empowerment. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Thank you.