Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I left my house today, I looked up and for the first time in my life I saw a new horizon in the skies of Yellowknife. The Robertson headframe, the longstanding and iconic landmark of this community is no more. Now, like the 11 former headframes at one time surrounded the city is merely history. This is a bittersweet moment in the history of the NWT, a sentiment I have seen shared by many Northerners over the last few days. Though it is no longer standing, the legacy of the headframe and the strong community the mining industry built here in Yellowknife will always remain.
At 76 metres tall, Con Mine's Robertson Headframe was the tallest structure in the Northwest Territories. The black and white shaft with the red crown could be seen almost anywhere through Yellowknife. Built in 1977, the structure acted as an employer of many citizens, a guide home on Great Slave Lake and the embodiment of a former economic era for the city for almost 40 years. It is no wonder that the debate for keeping it created such passion amongst our citizens, but it is curious this government remains so secretive about its intentions over the headframe.
Last week, media reported this government was brimming with excitement of the prospect of stepping into save the headframe from demolition from the over 500 pages of emails and other documentation attained by the media has to come to light the public service was preparing to announce as early as tourism week last May that the government and Newmont Mining were set to announce an agreement, though it appears all of this crumbled shortly after regular members became aware of these discussions wherever happening.
I want to make it clear that this side of the House would have been open to the possibility to keep the headframe standing instead of staying in line with its commitment to transparency, this government responded with "meh."
Mr. Speaker, though it is sad the Robertson Headframe has fallen into history, let us instead remember the past but look optimistically toward the future. It is time for a new era to begin in Yellowknife and for the Northwest Territories. It is time to steer our economy towards its true potential as innovators and entrepreneurs. It is time to build a stronger economy, a knowledge economy that empowers Northerners to make their own decisions for their own communities. Mr. Speaker, let us now look into the sky and see that bright future the Robertson Headframe helped to build. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.