Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to talk again about the $240 million that leaves the Northwest Territories annually with our fly-in workers who live in the South and fly here to work in the North. This is an extremely important issue, Mr. Speaker, in my riding because the NWT is losing revenue in real estate, municipal and territorial taxes, and goods and services; may the Finance Minister not forget, especially in federal transfer payments. The situation hurts northern businesses and limits the offshoot benefits these resources were supposed to provide northerners, Mr. Speaker.
We wouldn't be the first in Canada to act on this concern. Quebec has a highly regulated system with additional rules and restrictions applying to bidding on contracts and working on projects. Quebec also has more rules on where in the province a worker is allowed to work. As well, Quebec law effectively requires that all construction workers in Quebec must belong to a union or hold a prerequisite Quebec competency certificate, Mr. Speaker. This law has been upheld in Supreme Court.
Mr. Speaker, we talk and talk and talk about our BIP program, but it still lacks weight, teeth and effectiveness, Mr. Speaker. Although the mines are allowed to fly in workers, Mr. Speaker, it is truly hurting our northern economy. We need a fair agreement that we are simply being ignored with. As I've said before, we are losing numbers daily. Houses go up for sale. People are flying for free to work, Mr. Speaker. Something does seem wrong with this attitude. Maybe we need to insist that tradespeople who don't live here in the Northwest Territories have to get a special certification or belong to a northern union before they can work here, Mr. Speaker, because the jobs designed in those socio-economic agreements were designed for northerners living here. If you want to call them fly-in workers, you want to call this fly-in worker certification a head tax, so be it, Mr. Speaker. It's time that we're seen as doing something.
Mr. Speaker, I believe we need to finally exercise clause 8.5, as I said the other day, in the socio-economic agreement. I really believe that we need to finally go toe to toe with industry, drag them in here kicking and screaming, and finally deal and consult with this issue and find out why are northern people being missed out on opportunities, why are we allowing pretend northerners to live down south and work in the North and, finally, why are we missing out on local business opportunities to our people who really live here? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause