Mr. Speaker, our first budget starts the plan of investing in communities and in the people of the Northwest Territories, whether it is making sure that they can take the jobs thatworkers now take or whether it is the fact that we’re going to help aboriginal corporations enter into the business economy that is out there. There are a whole number of things that we are doing as the Government of the Northwest Territories through those strategic initiatives that will have a positive impact as we progress.
Mr. Speaker, we can also look back at when industry shut down on us. I’ll use the Mackenzie Delta. We’ve got a number of times the pipeline was talked about and shut down. What was left
there? There was no economy, but there was still the homelessness issue. There was still the fact that people could not afford to live in their communities and they came to government for support.
So, Mr. Speaker, the facts do speak. We have benefited residents of the Northwest Territories, and income support levels, for example, can even show that. When there’s an economy, there is less of a draw on that side of the equation. We have to come up with the right balance through a transition phase. There’s still going to be a drive to develop those resources in the framework, and we’re trying to change that as best as we can.