Thank you, Mr. Speaker. October 19th to 26th , as we heard, is Small Business
Week across Canada. While we should be celebrating the success of our small business owners and entrepreneurs, it’s almost time of a recession in the Sahtu. We saw a record high of investment in the oil and gas sector, but things are starting to quiet down. Actually, News/North put out a full page highlighting the benefits of energy exploration in the North and in the Sahtu. Perhaps the Canadian rock band, the Barenaked Ladies, sang it best: if I had a million dollars. Well, I’ll tell you what I’d do if I had that kind of cash during Small Business Week of 2014. I would get some partners and build a technology institution in the Sahtu.
A Sahtu technical institution that would bring young people together that could be taught how to succeed in life by developing the ability to think in practical terms rather than theoretical terms. Learn by doing, doing things in the business world.
The time is now for our government and industry to invest in our youth and in businesspeople. Our small business is the best investment our government can make. The public and the market will greatly benefit in having educated, skilled workers that build their business. Our best capital is our businesspeople. They have imagination. Where would private industry and our government be without imagination, trail-breaking innovators, the thinkers who dare to think outside the box? We might have the next Bombardier, Steve Jobs or Thomas Edison or Jackie Robinson living in Tulita or Deline or Fort Good Hope. But they will not have the eureka moment or the big break until we lead by example and invest in a technological institution for the Sahtu.
Now it’s time to partnership. Whether you’re a trapper in Fort Good Hope or an oil executive sitting in Norman Wells, it’s time to bring our people together.
These are people benefitting the communities through the breakfast program, bringing our culture together by building the moose skin boat.
Mr. Speaker, I am seeking unanimous consent to conclude my Member’s statement.
---Unanimous consent granted