Mr. Speaker, I, too, would like to make my statement, along with the honourable Members from Mackenzie Delta and Kam Lake, in terms of the optics of this loan being discussed with Discovery Air and in terms of the newspaper that printed the story in our communities in the Sahtu.
This afternoon I was on a call from the grand chief of the Sahtu region and I asked him what his thoughts were on the Discovery Air bailout loan and investment. He said, “Where is the government going? What are they thinking? We said we can use a percentage of that type of dollars in our region to help us with our roads and the airports and our infrastructure, even looking at a wellness, a regional health centre in the Sahtu.” The optics out there aren’t very good. As a matter of fact it stinks in terms of how this process rolled out after we had the two Ministers come and meet with us and talk to the Members as to what had taken place, what process was taken in terms of having this loan being discussed with Discovery Air.
We weren’t privy to that information. The transparency wasn’t there. We weren’t told as to what happened. The due diligence was done and how it came to its decision and how the structure was set up through the requirements of the federal government in terms of how this board of directors of senior management have an Opportunities Fund that is at their disposal to help people in the Northwest Territories. We didn’t see that.
I do agree with the Member from Kam Lake that the issue is not about jobs. It’s about how do we help the real people in our small communities like the Sahtu, like the Tlicho, Inuvialuit, Beaufort-Delta, any other regions that need help. Not to help other companies, but to help the real northern people and aboriginal businesses to have a say in their region.
I will have questions for the Minister at the appropriate time.