Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the weekend I had the opportunity to take a tour to the Conoco lease and the Husky lease up in the Sahtu region. Certainly I took the two days in to look at the whole operation, check out the operation in terms of the campsites, the workers, the oil and gas drilling activities.
When I went to Conoco’s lease, I saw a lot of young people working there, young people that were quite happy. They were talking about their work and it’s something they look forward to, getting up and going to work rather than sitting back in the communities and doing nothing. They are looking forward to some opportunities. One of the things they were talking about is the types of training opportunities that are there for them. Things are moving quite quickly and that they need some training to build capacity.
As soon as I went into the Husky lease, too, I also talked to some of the people there and that they were looking for some training opportunities, training that is going to be needed in the Sahtu region. I talked to them. Also, they were very, very happy to get up, go to work, get a paycheque after two weeks. One of the things I asked them was how it was to work in these camps. How is it to work out here? Basically, they all said it was okay. The food is good. The paycheques are good, and they like getting up early and working 12 hour days. They said that they were quite happy with what’s happening out there, and the companies were treating them well and that they had the opportunity to work.
I ran into these young people on these tours, and actually, there was a young woman who was driving one of the big trucks hauling gravel, young people working in the kitchen, young people working in security, young people monitoring the road for wildlife. Things are happening in the region. I want to ask the Minister of ITI with regard to the Sahtu oil and gas training needs assessment once the appropriate time comes.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
