Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the declining population of the Northwest Territories. There are ways of addressing that. We can attract new people. We can keep the people we have. We can multiply the people we have or there is another huge target audience out there, the people who work in the Northwest Territories but live somewhere else. That is what I want to ask the Minister of ITI about today. Have there been changes in the socio-economic agreements that were originally signed with the diamond mines? We hear that the Yukon is doing so well because of the mining sector. We also have a good mining sector with the diamond mines, but if people don’t have to live in the Northwest Territories and it’s easier if they can be flown out of the South, then I guess they have that option of doing that. So I’d like to ask the Minister of ITI, have we regressed from the original commitment we had with the diamond companies with respect to incentives and inducements to keep people in the North. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Concerning the SEAs, we had come up with an MOU with the three diamond mines. That MOU expired last year. We’re currently in the process of trying to replace that MOU. I’ve had the opportunity now as the Minister of ITI, to sit down with the three head folks at the diamond mines and we have to chart a course forward when it comes to replacing that MOU, and I fully intend on doing that and including my colleague, the Minister of Health and Social Services, and my colleague, the Minister of ECE, in a way forward on that. Thank you.
We are, I’m sure, aware of the challenges faced by these companies, as well, in attracting and recruiting people to work for them, regardless of whether they live in the North or the South, just getting the manpower or the labour force that they need to operate their mines. But I’d like to ask the Minister, in his discussions with the three diamond mines, is it his sense that they are aware of our plight in the need to see more benefit from these resources that we are extracting from our territory and the absolute advantages of having these folks live in the North. Thank you.
Thank you. They’re acutely aware of that and I believe wholeheartedly that they’d like nothing more than to see the majority of their workforce take up residence here in the Northwest Territories. However, the reality is, and I just returned from an FTP meeting in Goose Bay, Labrador, where the economy is red hot in Labrador, as well, and the representative from the province of Alberta mentioned to the Ministers at that meeting that in four years’ time the province of Alberta is going to have a 77,000 person deficit when it comes to skilled tradespeople in the province of Alberta, and that’s just in Alberta. There are many areas around the country nowadays where people can choose to live where they want to live and go to the work, and that unfortunately is the reality that we’re in. That’s the hill that we have to climb and I think we really need to start thinking about how we’re going to retain the people that we have. I think that should be front and centre as well. Thank you.
Thank you. So apart from the pressure that we could put on industry to try and have their people live and work in the North through inducements and incentives for their employees, what kind of a campaign do we have to try and communicate to people? I mean, we obviously love it here in the North. What kind of campaign do we have as a government to show people the kind of lifestyle, unique lifestyle that they can have here in the Northwest Territories? The Spectacular NWT is a wonderful campaign; you know, a nice place to visit, wouldn’t want to live there. Or does it say come and see us and live here? Thank you.
Thank you. We have had the Make Your Mark campaign that has been doing a great deal of work in eastern Canada and trying to tell people about the opportunities that are here in the Northwest Territories. Many people that currently live in a city like Yellowknife have roots in eastern Canada. We need to do everything we can to ensure that we’re putting out the welcome mat.
We’re looking across the country for people that want to move and live here in the Northwest Territories, but we’ve got a couple of hurdles again that we need to get over and one of those hurdles is the cost of living. When surveys are done with the mine workers that are on site, the main focus is the cost of living here in the Northwest Territories as compared to the South. That’s an obstacle that we have to try to continue to pursue and get over.
The other obstacle is if you look here in the city of Yellowknife with a vacancy rate of 0.6 percent, there aren’t too many houses on the market. We really need to do something with the City of Yellowknife, free up some land and get some housing developments started so that there are places. If we’re going to try to attract people to live here, we need to have houses for them to live in. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Lots of houses for sale in Hay River. I just thought I’d throw that in there.
One of the other things that we’ve seen is with the mining companies that come in here. They have trained our northern people, they have employed our northern people, but it is even easier for them to go live in St. Albert or Spruce Grove. We’ve had out-migration. One of the side effects of our people getting jobs at the mine is that they say, you know what, it’s easier to live in Spruce Grove than it is to live in Behchoko, and we’ve had out-migration as a result of that.
What can we do about this? Where is the campaign to try as a government to encourage people not only to move here but to also stay here? Thank you.
Thank you. We need to really look at communities like Hay River, like Fort Smith, like Fort Simpson and try to see how moving forward we can attract people to live in the Northwest Territories. If there are opportunities for people to live in a community like Hay River, Fort Smith or Fort Simpson, we need to gear up and we need to come up with a way to try to attract people to do that.
We’re continuing on with the Make Your Mark campaign and as we move forward it’s certainly my intention to try to keep as many people here in the North as we can and attract as many people as we can.
I look forward to working with the Regular Members on the opposite side of the House to ensure that we are doing everything in our power to ensure that that happens, and that includes working with industry. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
