Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank the Minister for his opening remarks and thank him again for working with me in regards to my polar bear issue that I have been dealing with since I have been down here.
I would like to correct the Minister in regards to his statement in regards to shrinking market. It is not a shrinking market. It is just the biggest thing that we have been seeing in the United States, being fish and game, putting the polar bear on the endangered species list, and dictating to us in regards to the polar bear hides not being able to cross the border. Again, I would like to thank the Minister in regards to all the work he has done to date in regards to the polar bear and seeing if we can get them taken off the list. Again, it is a really important market. It is a $1.7 million industry in my region, which is really needed this time of year with regard to the global economy.
Oil and gas work has really been minimal in the Delta. People do rely on this. I really stress how important it is to keep the pressure on fish and game in the United States, making sure the federal government doesn’t put this on the endangered species list. Talking to hunters in my community of Tuk, there’s no shortage of polar bears and we’d be the first ones to stop if we thought they were endangered. Due to global warming they’re even drowning now. The polar bear, we don’t even fill out our quota. I think we only fill about 25 percent of the tags in the hunts that we do get. I stress to the Minister how important it is to keep the polar bear off the endangered species list. For ourselves, being dictated to and told what to do by people from the South, that’s not right. We take care of our own. I always said that.
With regard to the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline, keep that pressure going too. There are local businesses in the Beaufort-Delta that are really hurting. The sooner this project gets off and running, the better, because it’s going to generate work. That will really stimulate the economy in the Beaufort-Delta.