Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Finance. As indicated in my Member’s statement, the outlook for the North American economy is lowered due to recent economic realities, yet this government is focused almost exclusively on the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline and diamond mining as our solutions for the future. Given that those industries we have counted on to lead economic development in the North have been hit hard, what is the effect on the GNWT, and how does this slowdown in the Canadian economy affect our fiscal framework or fiscal forecast?
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Clearly, the rapidly unfolding events that have been happening around the world have had an impact in the country. I indicated to Minister Flaherty just last week when he called that overall we anticipated a chilling effect in terms of credit, cost, the pressure on companies and the dropping of resources on the stock market. There is a whole host of areas where we anticipate there is going to be an impact.
The one good sign, I suppose, is going to be that the price of oil drops, even though we have already purchased our oil for the small communities. The price of oil is now down to $75 a barrel, I think it was today. But overall we are not going to be immune.
I would like to thank the Minister for that. To me this is something we need to be concerned about: the drop in the market and whatnot. It worries me that we have put a lot of our direction into the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline and the diamond mines. I’m not suggesting that we stop; I think that if we can develop a pipeline in an environmentally responsible way and get the benefit such as hydro and roads out of that, that would be brilliant. But I noticed that we have not spent a lot of time focusing on other economic opportunities in the North, such as fishing, agriculture and tourism. These things are a lot more sustainable. I think that for our future we seriously need to look at those as ways to increase our economy and employ Northerners.
I was wondering if the Minister could tell me if we are going to be spending any more time focusing on those types of industries to create a more sustainable economy in the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, through the Strategic Initiatives committee there is an awareness and recognition that there is a need to expand our economic base so it is not totally reliant on the non-renewable resource sector. As we come forward with the initiatives and the business plans, it will be demonstrated that we are making an attempt to provide better support for those areas.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
