Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have had the opportunity to review the document. However, I want to note for the record that there was no actual formal briefing for any of the committees to look at. I made some notes from this document. From what I can gather, generally speaking, this plan provides a description for the potential effects of resource development on employment opportunities in the North. It also gives unemployment information on each of the regions.
It outlines, from what I can pick up here, that there are five different areas preparing Northerners for careers in non-renewable resource sectors; facilitating career development and human resource planning in the sector; number three would be increasing support training and development of opportunities of the sector; number four, encouraging youth to finish high school; number five, monitor and assessment. Those are the five different areas I have been able to pick out.
I have a number of questions. The central question is how effective will the plan be at achieving its objectives? Another question is where will the money come from? A lot of this plan is based on receiving dollars for the non-renewable strategy that we have yet to get an answer on. It does not state in here what the plans are for the Government of the Northwest Territories. What plan do they have if the federal government does not deliver additional funds...setting itself clear targets that could be clearly linked to the proposed programming? I did not see any clearly stated targets.
The plan talks about potentials, contributions and this will make an evaluation of a somewhat descriptive exercise with no clear benchmarks. How many long-term jobs does the department intend to create? How many temporary jobs during the construction phase does the department intend to create? This plan does not say that. It is not clear. The closest thing to targets I have seen is on pages 32 and 33 where the following figures were given. It states that there is a potential for up to 2,000 jobs for non-renewable resource development.
It says that developing a skilled workforce and promoting maximum employment will contribute to over 500 Northerners benefiting from training and employment programs annually. It also states that 600 individuals receive career development assistance and there is also a projected decrease in the unemployment rate of up to 50 percent in high activity areas.
On page 15 of the plan, it estimates that 837 ongoing jobs will be created by non-renewable resource development. It also estimates that an average of 2,500 individuals could be employed per year during construction phase with a peak employment involving as many as 4,000.
The plan also states on page 13, that there are 3,170 unemployed workforce persons in the Northwest Territories. If we took the total budget of this plan of $12.68 million and divided it by the number of unemployed, the total labour force of 3,170, we come out with a number of $4,000 per person. I do not imagine we will be planning to train everybody that is unemployed. This plan intends to spend $3.195 million annually on all aspects of its operations, including administration and planning. The $12.68 million is proposed as expenditures over four years. This plan indicates that $1.6 million will be spent annually on industry specific training. Again, where does this money come from? If we did some math and we took the $1.6 million, divided by the 500 Northerners benefiting from training and employment programs annually, that equals even less. It comes to $3,200 annually for training. Will this accomplish the objectives of the department?
Page 29 states that this funding would be used for a combination of apprenticeship and occupational trades program, as well as a combination of short-term training and on-the-job training subsidies. Is this plan adequately funded for the targets that have been set?
The success of this program will depend on the extent that it complements other initiatives. For example, the Aboriginal Training Fund, employers, industry, et cetera. Some of these are called "just-in-time training initiatives". I wonder how many things have been done just in time, by the government?
We have to see how this plan...it does not spell out how we are going to interact with other groups. We need to know that. A concern that comes as a result of this plan is when they talk about regional disparities. This is an important issue for the Deh Cho. I am concerned. What happens to the region when nothing is happening? Will there still be funds available? Will the same amount of funds be available to the Beaufort Delta where there is an estimated half billion dollars of work to be done over the next five years? As for the Deh Cho, there is very little happening. Will the department be concentrating on just giving information to the regions such as Deh Cho when there is really nothing going on at the time?
The report talks about worker mobility initiatives to address regional disparities. What does this mean in practice, to the communities of Hay River Reserve, Fort Providence, and Kakisa? I really question whether there is fairness across the board. Mr. Chairman, I have asked a number of questions here and I would like to give an opportunity for the Minister to respond.