Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Everywhere I look, and it doesn’t take any effort at all, you see Northerners dedicating themselves to the success of this great territory. You find people committed in every single corner of our North, whether they’re lifelong Northerners or they’re people who have invested a few short years in getting to know the North. It doesn’t matter if they’re First Nation, Metis, Inuvialuit or non-Aboriginal. So
many have dedicated their families to northern values and the opportunities that are before them.
There is certainly much to be proud of. But, as I fear, and certainly many people do, that those values have been under attack by this government and its outlook when it comes to hiring Northerners in real jobs. When the everyday Northerner is trying to find work, they’re looking for a break and certainly a helping hand.
Jobs are different everywhere you look. In Yellowknife the unemployment rate is 3.4 percent. In the communities it’s over 30 percent. That should be a bell ringing loud and clear to this government. But when Northerners see themselves so easily shut out by job fairs that head down south to Ottawa, they wonder, do they matter anymore. Does the investment that they make here with their families, where they pour their hearts and souls into our communities, does it matter little?
Jimmy Carter’s famous slogan was always your politicians will always be there when they need you. Frankly, it couldn’t be more clearly illustrated when this Cabinet recently pulled out their chequebook and waved a $20 million cheque to cover the shortfall of the Power Corp. Now, we all know the citizens certainly were grateful to avoid that rate rider, but frankly, now that the dust has settled, the citizens are asking, was that to ensure that they weren’t hammered continually in this Assembly.
For years I’ve been calling for power rate relief, and it’s always fallen on deaf ears and brushed off as something they would never do. Let’s get to the bottom line. Illustrations like that couldn’t be clearer. This government has had hundreds of ghost jobs on the books, some real, some who knows what when it comes to unreal positions. It’s time this government starts to pony up the truth about where some of these jobs are, what results have been driven by these southern job fairs. Frankly, we’re going to hear whining from this government about micromanagement and too much detail, but the darned everyday citizen calls this accountability and it’s time to step up.