Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this being Education Week, I'm going to make a little statement on education and how it relates to employment. As well, Mr. Speaker, the North is facing -- I guess the word facing is no longer an appropriate term -- is right in the middle of the most economic history of our history. We've seen major developments in the mining sector, we're seeing major developments down the road for oil and gas, specifically the pipeline. We sometimes concentrate on the negative aspects of these opportunities. The negative aspect that we see is too many fly-in people working our lines in our explorations for oil and gas. One of the problems there, Mr. Speaker, is our very low education rate and our people who are not ready for these opportunities. I know the Minister and his department have been working quite hard in the last couple of years to reduce that gap. I'll be asking the Minister some questions to see the latest developments in that area.
Mr. Speaker, we have one of the better opportunities in Canada and North America as young people. We have an education system that's free to a lot of Northerners that come back and work in the North. I challenge my young colleagues in the Northwest Territories to meet the challenge, get their education, get their diplomas in whatever areas or professions they want to get into. The opportunities are limitless. When we look at a mine it's not just truck drivers, we have to look at managers, administrators, accountants, mechanics and all professions. It's like running a little town in these mines and all kinds of professions are required.
We have a government that's delivering programs to meet those needs. We have industry that is partnering with government, we are challenging in the Northwest Territories to take on that responsibility and meet the needs so that we don't have to fly people in from the south. We could have our own home-grown workforce meeting the challenges. I'll be asking the Minister responsible what kinds of programs they have to close that gap. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.