Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There was a lot of discussion early on in this Assembly on how we were going to diversify the economy of the Northwest Territories, so much so that the 19th Assembly made it one of our priorities. As the first year of our term progressed, we were hit by COVID-19 and all semblance of a normal economy, a normal Northwest Territories, went out the window. As I survey the economic landscape now with an additional year of knowledge under my belt, I am looking to the future at how we rebuild our economy into a thriving, healthy one that benefits all of our residents.
I keep coming back to what has been the building blocks of our economy before now. Until we save and recover them adding in new streams to our Territory will be a challenge. How do we increase our tourism with no roads for them to drive on? How do we have a healthy small-business sector, including flower shops, hair stylists, and restaurants, if we don't have a major economic driver to employ people so they can spend money in them? This all tells me that in order for the Northwest Territories to recover from our current situation we need to return to our roots, our history.
We need to return to mining. Mining accounts for 30 to 44 percent of our GDP depending on the metrics being used. That doesn't even account for the indirect dollars that our resource extraction sector brings to our small business sector or the benefits to mental health and our society that good paying jobs people have pride in and learn from brings. Additionally, our mines are good corporate citizens, often making financial donations and gifts of material goods to northern NGOs and charities.
We constantly hear the future is green. The NWT is abundant in the minerals and metals required to build Canada's green economy. This is the Northwest Territory's future, our role on the national stage. This is where your children will be employed, where Indigenous organizations will thrive in business, and what our polytechnics should be centred on. I am all for seeing us expand and diversify. I love to travel. I love our arts. However, if we have no foundation, no resource sector, no amount of visitors to our territory will save us. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.