Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today, I want to speak a bit about the COVID economic situation in the territories that is affecting the entire country. There is no doubt that a lot of businesses, large and small, have been taking a huge hit financially. Unfortunately, it is very likely that we will see some of these companies go under as a result, and a lot of jobs, too, with it.
Mr. Speaker, most economic experts are saying that this recession is actually worse than the 2008-2009 great recession that we endured 12 years ago. COVID-19 has induced a global economic recession that we have not seen since the Great Depression in the 1930s. This is concerning, and I believe that this government needs to take proactive steps to address this issue. On that note, I'm going to go back 90 years, as I mentioned, about the Great Depression and a tool that the United States used to dig themselves out of that Great Depression, and that was the New Deal. During that time, President Roosevelt enacted a number of economic reforms. He took reform measures in areas of agriculture, reforestation, infrastructure, housing, finance, and labour, and a lot of those infrastructure projects are still in existence today, in terms of highways, bridges, dams, and that sort of thing.
Mr. Speaker, how is this relevant to our situation now? Right now, our economy is very interdependent on the mining sector. They create a lot of jobs directly through their mining operations, and indirectly through contractors and subcontractors. Theoretically speaking, if all our mining operations were to cease right now, a figure that I dug up was the unemployment rate would be 37.5 percent. That's shocking. It's a startling figure. I also want to mention that such a cease of operations would affect contractors such as the De'ton Cho Corporation in my riding, and the Denesoline Corporation.
Mr. Speaker, in closing, what can the GNWT do if faced with such a crisis? I believe we can turn to history and enact our own version of the New Deal by creating employment through investments in our infrastructure, reforestation, and housing. It's something to think about. Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker.