The units are getting older and older and the maintenance crews are asked to do more and more, like I said, with a lot less. Is Novel the answer? I don't know. I wonder about that. We are talking about a huge investment here. Maybe it's time we went and asked the communities and listened to what the communities have to say.

Let's start making some of the decisions based on what the community wants, not what the Housing Corporation and government thinks is best for the community because what is good for one community in this region may not be good for another community in that region. So I would urge this government to talk to the communities...

---Laughter

...listen to what they have to say and let's start paying attention to the needs of the communities and not the needs of headquarters. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I cited yesterday many reasons why so many of our small businesses are having such a difficult time. One of the main issues that I mentioned was the lack of labour, Mr. Speaker. We have a shortage of labour, skilled and unskilled, in every sector of our industries. I don't think it is just in Yellowknife, but in other regions where there is a lot of economic activity. Mr. Speaker, the problem is particularly severe for fast-food and fast service businesses where the employees are not able to compete with the government or big corporations, although they do go out of their way to make their employment benefits package as attractive as well.

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that it is so difficult for them to find enough full-time reliable help that they are actually looking overseas to find help. In fact, it is not unusual for me to get a phone call to see if I could help them with finding help from the country of my ancestry, which is Korea. Not only that, Mr. Speaker, but the immigration office in Yellowknife is so under-resourced and not mandated fully to address and help those employers who might be looking to bring help from overseas.

Mr. Speaker, on the other hand, when I had the constituency meeting a couple of weeks ago, I learned from one of my constituents that, in fact, there is a surgeon and a pharmacist working as check-out cashiers at one of our box stores. I must say, Mr. Speaker, while I realize these stores offer a lot of products, I don't think surgery is one of them.

Mr. Speaker, I have to tell you that this issue deals with a lack of skilled labour or lack of any kind of labour,

especially industry that is labour intensive, but also we have a lot of red tape and barriers that is getting in the way of professional people who are already in Yellowknife finding their jobs. I am not hearing enough from this government and the federal government to help the businesses deal with this issue. In the days to come, I would like to see some more direction and leadership from the Minister of Employment, who is also now responsible for Human Resources, to come up with a policy to address this situation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I start, I should apologize to my colleague Mr. McLeod for knocking my glass over.

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to discuss the issue about fly-in workers to the diamond mines. This is a growing concern of my constituents. This is a growing concern among northern communities. They are constantly asking, is this government doing enough to this problem? The socio-economic agreements between the diamond mines and the GNWT set out employment targets for northerners and aboriginal residents, Mr. Speaker. These targets for northern resident employment during the mine operations are set at roughly between 60 and 70 percent. It appears increasingly difficult to meet these targets the mine is setting. What are we doing? Are we doing enough?

The high cost of living contributes to people not wanting to live in the Northwest Territories, to make their homes here, to contribute to the communities. Incentives for northern residents have steadily decreased over the years, Mr. Speaker. Since the third-quarter, the 2005 population census told us that we have lost approximately 850 residents, Mr. Speaker. I have no doubt some of those are mine employees relocating. Why are they relocating, Mr. Speaker? Because the mining industry is reacting to these changes as all good businesses do. But one such adaptation is they are now providing free flights to their employees from the South to work in their northern sites. Pretty nice, I will say. This is an attractive option for workers who do not live in the North, Mr. Speaker. It would be crazy for them not to take these options up. These are fly-in workers who are taking their earnings from our North, our only opportunity to get any benefit from these mines, and they are taking them south so they are not contributing to our North. Again, they are not contributing to our communities.

All socio-economic agreements have monitoring provisions in place. The Premier will know this, Mr. Speaker, because I will cite one in a second. The mining companies have agreed to consult with their northern partners to find ways to meet these set targets. The GNWT has an important role in monitoring these provisions. Mr. Speaker, tabled in the Fourth Session of the 13th Assembly in 1996, section 8.5 says, "If requested, the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development will call basically the diamond mine companies before an ad hoc committee or the Assembly if requested," Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, may I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement? Thank you.

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. Mr. Speaker, the fact is, it is set out in the socio-economic agreements that we have the right to call these diamond companies to meet the Minister, to speak to the Minister on special issues written here discussing training, employment and business opportunities. It is to my understanding this clause has never been exercised to find out what is the problem and maybe what the GNWT isn't doing.

So, Mr. Speaker, I demand this government to exercise this clause 8.5 in the agreement and to call these mining companies before this Assembly, before committee, and work on a partnership to find a solution to this important issue to our northern residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Members' statements. The honourable Member for the Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Members' statements. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this time I'd like to recognize one of my chiefs, Chief Charlie Football from Wekweeti is in the audience.

---Applause

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize the two Pages I have here from my region, Carrcie Mantla and also Tyanna Steinwand. It is their last day today. I hope they enjoyed it. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to recognize a Page that we've had with us here during this session, Ms. Aimee Gauthier. Mahsi.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize my two Pages that I brought in from Paulatuk, and I thank the staff here in corporate services, Kayla Kudlak from Paulatuk and also Craig Ruben. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are in following up with my Member's statement and it's to the Minister of Employment. I think that we're all aware that here in Yellowknife the cost of living and the cost of doing business is very expensive and the booming economy sometimes works against small businesses who have to compete with the ever-reducing supply of labour and having to compete with big governments and big company packages sometimes. When they are looking to look overseas, if they have to, they run into more problems having really no service in Yellowknife to deal with this. I'd like to know what the Minister has done, if anything, in that regard in his office as Minister. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I listened with interest to Ms. Lee's statement and it is an issue that I understand is becoming more and more of a problem for northern employers finding suitable staff because of the overheated economy. To date, I have approached Minister Solberg's office on a couple of issues. One was to see if we could get some action on assisting the tourism operators who need Japanese staff; another to address an issue of a long-standing or outstanding application for Canadian citizenship for a doctor who is practicing in the North. We've had successful resolution of one of those.

I haven't been approached by fast-food service restaurants, but I would be quite prepared to sit down with them, discuss what their needs are, and then develop a plan of action to address this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If he is interested in hearing, getting advice from this side of the floor, Mr. Speaker, I could tell you that a fast-food chain in downtown are actually using personal referrals from an employee from Korea that worked there and she or he are being asked to look for people in Korea. I mean, they're using personal connections because they felt that they were getting no help from the immigration office and the immigration office here is really equipped with enforcement of bad immigrants, so to speak, not really there to facilitate people who want to bring in employees.

Another thing is, I know that there is a fast-food chain in the Range Lake area where they're looking at bringing 60 employees from the Philippines and they're not even bothering to go through Yellowknife office because they're so ill-resourced and ill-equipped. So I'd like to know -- and I'm sure this is not the first time the Minister is hearing that -- would the Minister be willing to look at talking to Minister Solberg and see if he would increase the resources in the immigration office in Yellowknife? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hadn't heard about this problem with the fast-food service restaurants, but now that I have heard about it I would be quite happy to find out what their specific needs are and then see how we can address that with Minister Solberg, yes.