Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today we had a chance to meet with some Ministers and I am pleased that for the first time in his term we have been able to welcome the mayor of Hay River here today, His Worship Kelly Schofield, and our town manager, Terry Molenkamp.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to talk about Hay River a bit today. Hay River prides itself in being a diverse economy, diverse culture, a long-standing community with a lot of resiliency. Mr. Speaker, the mayor reminded me this morning in your office of a phrase that I really like. That is that the cup is half full. I try to stay positive about these things, but I need to be honest with my colleagues here today and tell you that Hay River is in need of some serious attention in terms of our economy there.
We went through, and have gone through, very difficult times in Hay River. I think back to the closure of the Pine Point Mine when we had 2,000 residents that just lived within an hour’s distance to the east of us. A lot of their trade, commerce and activity, services that they required came out of Hay River. When we heard that the Pine Point Mine would shut down, it was quite devastating news for Hay River. Then along came the timely decision of the Government of the Northwest Territories to locate the headquarters for NTPC in Hay River and how that decision went a long ways to mitigate the negative impact of the loss of Pine Point as our neighbour.
Mr. Speaker, we are at a time again now where we have seen a change and an evolving in our community. The headquarters of Northern Transportation, a long-standing, large corporate citizen in our community, were relocated recently to Edmonton along with the senior jobs that went with that. This was not good for Hay River.
Again, I don`t want to paint a really dire picture, because sometimes that can backfire as well. At the same time, we are happy with the long-awaited and anticipated construction of a trades shop in Hay River, the construction of the assisted living facility which is up and operational now and all the jobs involved in that operation, the renovation of our school and, of course, the new hospital for Hay River on the horizon in our capital budget.
But, Mr. Speaker, at this time, I really do feel that we need to draw our government`s attention to the fact that Hay River, to be sustainable and to continue on the way we have, these projects are good, but we need something long term. We have mining on our doorstep. We have potential of Avalon. We have the potential of what Tamerlane can bring there. We have also the ability to accommodate these activities.
I would like to thank the mayor and the town manager for meeting with Ministers today to draw this to their attention again. We will work together. We will improve things. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
