Mr. Speaker, my questions this morning are for Mr. Bell, the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Investment. It relates to the socio-economic agreement that was recently signed with the Mackenzie Valley pipeline proponents. Mr. Speaker, this agreement goes to great lengths, and so it should, to stipulate the hiring advantages that should be given to aboriginal and indigenous northerners. Mr. Speaker, there is another category identified, that of NWT resident, that I think is left out quite high and dry in this, Mr. Speaker. This is the point of my question where, in agreements with the diamond mines, we have stipulated at least some residency requirement in order to be counted. However, Mr. Speaker, the socio-economic agreement says only that...This is the definition of an NWT resident: it means any individual who makes a representation or provides evidence that in any case can be relied on by an operator or contractor. I won't get any further. The point is any individual who makes a representation can be counted as a northern resident.
Mr. Speaker, why did the government betray the interests of long-term resident northerners in signing away their advantage to get hired on ahead of just about anybody else?