Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For many years the outfitting industry has been significant to our northern economy. It has represented a good balance between tourism and promotion, conservation, economic investment, business and certainly local employment. For decades lodges brought tourists to the North. That was new money to our territorial economy that helped diversify our economy and certainly employ people.
In a market like ours, there was great confidence, and businessmen, women and families alike met that confidence with investment and kept investing in their lodges and in the North.
Now things have changed. We’ve all heard about the mysterious disappearing caribou and the outfitters know the writing is on the wall. They see the realities before them and they do want to play a part. But where is the government in their time of need?
Most outfitters feel they’ve been rolling out the proverbial red carpet for many years for our economy. Now in their time of need that carpet has been pulled out from underneath them by this government. Most of these people have no other option of where to go or what to do. Furthermore, the reality is these old warhorses of the outfitting industry are not an easy group to retool and say everything will be fine. Many have invested millions and now, without any customers at all, there are no options for those million dollar lodges. They all become worthless because of our new position with the lack of caribou. Where is the government in their support?
Some will say ecotourism is your new herald opportunity. The hard reality is very few people will pay $3,000, $4,000, $5,000, who knows how many thousands to go take a picture and smell some flowers. ENR said in the hearings that the outfitters were not responsible for the decline. Instead they were an asset, providing biologists samples, by only taking the bulls, and certainly being the eyes and ears on the Barrens. Yet the outfitters are suffering without government support.
We’re in a critical time for many of these people. Folks will say they should sit it out and wait, but the reality is they’ve poured every dollar they earned into their nest egg with the hopes that someday they could sell it as their retirement package. Those millions have turned into pennies, if at all. Surely they can’t wait. Most can’t start over in three to 10 years because that’s really what it takes to rebuild the economy after they can start again.
In closing, the late Jim Petersen said, “Outfitters are an endangered species.” I think he missed the mark only by a hair. They’ve become an extinct species.
