Thank you, Madam Speaker. It's a difficult issue for us to address, but we know what we need to do is get more northerners trained, especially for the jobs that require a high level of expertise. The fact of the matter at that specific mine is 70 percent of their workforce -- I think it's 72 percent, in fact -- are northerners. The other 30 percent currently come from the South. Had we had that expertise locally available in the North, there would be no one coming in from the South. That is our goal. That's why we have programs set up like the ASEP program that the Minister of Education has been working diligently on with industry and with communities. I think that's the future, Madam Speaker. The future is to get our people trained to take advantage of the opportunities that are there for them. I don't believe the mine has any interest in flying people in from the South unless they absolutely need to. It's more expensive. As I said earlier and yesterday to the questions, people who live and work in the North are much more likely to stay at those jobs. The cost of turnover is huge for mines. When you have people trained and prepared to stay, the longer they stay, the less you have to train replacements. So they have a vested interest in using northerners and I am sure if they could use 100 percent northerners, they would. It's up to us as government and northerners to get our people trained to take advantage of those opportunities. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Brendan Bell on Question 32-15(4): Impact Of New Diavik Travel Policy
In the Legislative Assembly on May 27th, 2005. See this statement in context.
Return To Question 32-15(4): Impact Of New Diavik Travel Policy
Question 32-15(4): Impact Of New Diavik Travel Policy
Item 6: Oral Questions
May 26th, 2005
Page 61
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