Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a few comments, nothing in particular, just mostly some internal thoughts. For the most part, I think going forward a lot of the projects that have been identified in some respects have materialized over the course of the last couple of years and I think it’s clear that lacking major natural resource development projects, aside from the mines that we have, this government has to try in some way to invigorate the economy
and
that’s
in
investments
and
infrastructure. So, with that, at the community level there have been some efforts in terms of trying to empower local governments to come up with at least their own finance, and there have been transfers of more monetary tools in terms of the gas tax. So it enables communities to try to at least put more effort into local planning and also incentives to try and identify some projects down the road, but it also creates the opportunity for collaboration between local
governments
and
also
the
territorial
government. But, in some respects, too, I think we all need to be reminded that even though there’s always momentum to download and empower communities, we cannot lose the thought that the governme
nt’s
still responsible to provide services and programs to local communities, especially residents. So, we need to remind ourselves that once in a while communities will want to partnership, but at the same time government still has an obligation to provide those services.
I think the thing that strikes me the most is just the cost of living and how it is that we’re trying to address that fundamental challenge that’s making life, in terms of community living, very challenging for families, single parents, students, elderly and disabled persons. The high cost of living is a big challenge. It’s amazing how our local people can endure the challenges of being unemployed. We have 50 percent unemployment rates in the communities and it’s a big challenge, so this
government has to, in some respects a lot of the time, step up and assist people.
For the most part, I think there are opportunities. One opportunity that we experienced this summer was a natural phenomenon. We saw the forest fires basically decimate some areas in the NWT, and then almost as a residual effect we had the growth of mushrooms. These wild little plants created opportunities for employment, opportunities for some commercial enterprise. But it exemplifies how such a small little vegetable plant could have a big impact on government, especially for opportunities. It’s something that’s renewable and sustainable. It’s very, very complementary to the subsistence economy that we have in communities, so it worked in some respects. Some people call it a lot of hype, but in the final analysis it was something good that happened and we need to try and learn from that.
Next to that is tourism. I think there have been a lot of efforts in terms of promoting tourism. It’s important for us to maintain the facilities, especially the campgrounds that we have locally in some communities and to ensure that the highways are very good so that tourists do keep coming back up north and spending their money up here in the NWT.
Closely related to that, of course, is we have in the riding, at least in the South Slave, the potential of a wood pellet mill that is dawning and it’s getting closer to reality. It’s cause for excitement. It’s cause for hope and optimism. I would like to ensure that local communities continue to be involved. There are some communities that are standing by with their forest management agreement. They’re trying to make this work and trying to make this successful. I think government needs to be involved with that. Whether this government is going to continue with the Biomass Strategy is something that has yet to be determined. Perhaps we could be informed in terms of whether it’s going to continue.
The other thing that kind of strikes me is there was a decision to close down the treatment centre, and we realized that this government is doing all it can to try and provide a service to people who are struggling with alcohol and substance abuse and we send them down south when in fact we need to build capacities and we need to revisit that idea that we need to house our own treatment centre up here in the NWT and ensure that we also assist people.
Those are just some comments that I wanted to share. Going forward, I think this government needs to continue in terms of ensuring that there’s work along
with
communities
to
cooperate
on
infrastructure projects.