Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my statement today is a follow-up to meetings held last week in Calgary regarding the World Petroleum Conference. There has been a lot said about the potential we have in the Northwest Territories. I think one thing we can lose sight of is the people themselves. Our most precious resource is the people.
Mr. Speaker, in ensuring the people of the Northwest Territories benefit from these developments, we have to ensure we have the training, infrastructure and the opportunities for the people of the North.
There are development opportunities in all of our different regions. We have the potential in different sectors, such as the mining sector, oil and gas, tourism, and renewable and non-renewable resources.
In particular, Mr. Speaker, in my riding of Mackenzie Delta, there is the potential for oil and gas development. There is talk about a gas pipeline up and down the Mackenzie Valley and the results that have to come forward regarding the land sales recently in the Mackenzie Delta, especially the sale of lands from the Inuvialuit, which have brought in some $75 million. There are opportunities in different sectors, from the seismic operation to drilling, to the potential development of that resource.
In order to meet that requirement, we have to look back in time. As a young man, I started my involvement with oil and gas in the Mackenzie Delta. I worked on the Beaufort Sea. It seemed like there was never going to be an end to this development. It came and went. We had large scale drilling operations, drill ships, man-made islands. We had drilling platforms, ice-breakers, some large camp facilities in Tuktoyaktuk and also in Inuvik.
Yet as quick as it came, it also left. Ensuring we receive the benefit to its maximum potential this time around, I encourage this government to put all of its resources and its abilities to develop programs and services to assist the people in the Mackenzie Delta to take advantage of this opportunity, which has come once again.
I feel it is essential that this government put as much effort in the oil and gas sector as it did in mining. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.