Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in light of all the development out there on the pipeline, oil and gas, mining and the diamond industry, one of the biggest challenges that we face in our communities is to ensure that we have the capacity to take advantage of these business opportunities by ensuring that the majority of the wealth that comes from these projects and activities arrives at the doors of the small communities. Mr. Speaker, the Norman Wells oilfield is a good example of what we have seen happen in the past. There is a pipeline which runs from Norman Wells to Zama, Alberta. Mr. Speaker, there are 33,000 barrels of oil flowing through that pipe every day, in excess of $300 million a year. Yet, Mr. Speaker, few benefits have flowed from that pipeline to the people of the Northwest Territories. It is the federal government that benefits most.

I feel that when we talk of a pipeline down the Mackenzie Valley, we cannot use the excuse that we are not ready. We as a government have a responsibility to ensure that we assist in building capacity in our communities through education and skills training programs, and that the communities are involved in the flood of information and land use permits and activities that are happening around them. What we find in the small communities is they do not even have the capacity to take on the meaningful role of hiring enough people in their offices to look at land use permits. We must respond to the environmental challenges that are out there and build the human resources to ensure that the jobs that will come from this major development are going to be filled with people from the Northwest Territories and not elsewhere.

I know that a lot of people, especially in my riding, would like to work in the diamond mines during the months of the year when there are no activities in the Mackenzie Delta/Beaufort Sea area, but because of social and economic agreements with other parties there is a reluctance to hire people from the North. Instead we are importing people from the south to fill those positions, even though people in the North who want to go to work elsewhere...