Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, as I was able to enjoy some dry fish from the Beaufort-Delta area, I came up with a Member’s statement here.
I know that in the Northwest Territories we value these northern fish. Whether we fry it, bake it, barbeque it, smoke it, or even enjoy it dried, it’s an important asset to the Northwest Territories.
In the Hay River area, in the Great Slave area, we catch it, a lot of it. One million pounds last year, the Minister was able to announce last November. One million.
Our fishers are working hard out there in this industry. They have increased the production over the last couple of years and made it over that million pounds.
The recent successes in the industry don't indicate the fact that we have to support them more. We have to increase the amount of the fishers out there and the supports that they have.
As we sit here and debate resource revenue sharing of these non-renewable resources, we should be focussing on this opportunity that we have in renewable resources like our fisheries. If we support and train these Northerners to stay here, this will have a direct impact on our economy, and we won’t have to be dealing with what the price of some commodity on the world market is. These are direct jobs directly affecting Northerners.
Later today I will have questions for the Minister of ITI about some of the money that they’ve talked about in the budget, supporting the industry, where that money is going to be and how we’re going to put these people to work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.