Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I would like to discuss the matter of NWT small businesses conducting cross-border services who may now lose out on contracts due to the fact they are required to self-isolate upon their return.
A real-life example would be a business that currently has a contract to pick up vehicles in the NWT and deliver them to a location in Alberta. The contract this business has is with the southern company. This service is intermittent and requires the business owner, upon his return, to self-isolate in Hay River, while his home base is Fort Simpson. The consequence of this is the loss of 14 days of business and revenue.
The contract is now coming up for renewal, and the NWT company will most likely not be invited to bid. This is due to the fact they are required to self-isolate upon their return and thus not able to follow through with timely service due to the stringent self-isolation requirements in the NWT. The contract will now go to a southern service provider, who is allowed to come into the NWT, retrieve a vehicle, turn around, and go back south with no requirement to self-isolate. This puts our northern businesses at a disadvantage.
This scenario is not only affecting this particular company. It is also affecting other northern companies in similar positions. These homegrown northern companies are now considering moving a good portion of their operation to Alberta in order to keep their businesses afloat. The move to Alberta would remove the requirement to self-isolate in the NWT, which is costing these companies both contracts and loss of revenue.
Mr. Speaker, we all know the reasoning behind the self-isolation requirement, but we also need to use a common-sense approach to some of our decisions.
We in the NWT are fortunate to have some very competent people in our health department, Dr. Kami Kandola being one of them, and I am sure she, with her team and working with other departments, can come up with a solution to this issue and help save some of our small businesses. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.