Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we live in a time when technology is changing many aspects of life. In many areas, this is beneficial, but elsewhere it is causing significant disruption, in particular the loss of jobs. Mining is a good example. What was once a dirty industry by every measure is now cutting-edge through the use of innovation and technology.
Mr. Speaker, some of the world's largest mining companies, including Rio Tinto, are moving to what is termed "intelligent mining." Automation is taking over underground excavators, and electric vehicles are being used. A process called X-ray diffraction is replacing core drilling to conduct metallurgic sampling to follow mineral veins. At the surface, the ore is being sorted by both sensor- and magnet-based applications, which separate the valuable product from the waste.
So what does our future look like, Mr. Speaker? As we look ahead, we need to embrace and fulfill our critical infrastructure needs, but we also need to look beyond traditional bricks and mortar and invest meaningfully in our future workforce.
Significant effort has already been undertaken by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment through the Skills 4 Success program. It identifies thousands of jobs that will be required in the coming years. In order to match the innovative ways of industry, these jobs will require a new assortment of skills.
More than half the occupations in the NWT as we know them today will undergo a significant skills overhaul in the next 10 years.
The gap between the demands of the future workplace and the skills of our current workforce is daunting. The NWT as a whole, including other orders of government along with business and industry, need to recognize this shared challenge. We must address it in order to equip our next generation workforce with the skills they need to find the jobs of tomorrow.
Mr. Speaker, our future economic prosperity is not simply about retraining. It's about cultivating lifelong learning. This is how we will build a future for the next generation of Northerners. As technology and innovation continue to evolve, our willingness to understand, adapt, and inspire must follow.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that investing today in the skills that will unlock future prosperity is the smart way to prepare our young people for the future. At the appropriate time, I will have questions for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.