Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the last little while, we have heard many news reports on the return of the oil and gas industry to the Beaufort Delta area. Much of this activity is taking place in and around Tuktoyaktuk. For instance, the seismic companies are cutting 1,500 kilometres for three-dimensional seismic lines within a radius of ten miles around Tuktoyaktuk. I am told anyone who wants work gets hired, skilled or unskilled.
Mr. Speaker, shortly this flurry of activity will shut down for the season and all this equipment will be stored in the outlying camps, such as Swimming Point. Mr. Speaker, this particular camp is a prime example of cooperation, good planning and investments by aboriginal organizations and businesses.
Originally this camp belonged to Esso Resources and was located in Tuktoyaktuk, where it stood vacant during the recent downturn in the oil and gas activity. Last summer, this 110-man camp was purchased through a joint venture of E. Gruben's Transport and the Inuvialuit Development Corporation. These two Inuvialuit firms set up a firm called Arctic Oil and Gas Services, or AOGS. This containerized camp was relocated to Swimming Point and set up to serve as a logistics support base for Petro Canada's operations in the Beaufort.
Utilizing mostly Inuvialuit firms, this camp was made fully operational again by December 11, 2000. Employment at the campsite was 70 percent Inuvialuit, including many managerial positions. Mr. Speaker, this campsite consists of an airstrip, large storage yard for pipe and bulk material, as well as an office complex and a huge modern workshop.
Mr. Speaker, this government has to encourage more of these types of cooperation between the exploration companies and aboriginal groups if we are to see a pipeline up the valley in the near future. There are great expectations out there now.
At the end of the last oil and gas boom in the Beaufort, the exploration companies left and the oil and gas stayed in the ground. This time around, the people of the Beaufort are hoping the decision-makers get it right. The oil and gas people will stay and only the gas will leave the country. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
-- Applause