Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to talk today about a very important subject, and that subject is jobs. Jobs are critical no matter where you live. They help your family, they help you and they make sure that the economy runs. Economic opportunities are absolutely critical throughout our Northwest Territories because they do bring those jobs so we can have Northerners working. A Northerner working is certainly a much happier one than one living on the system.
With true employment rates as low as they truly are, we cannot wait for the federal government to step in or some other person such as a false deity making uneducated promises that they really don’t understand. We must step down from these platitudes when it comes to economic investment. We must find a way to have a real impact. In a lot of ways, I actually really believe in the Economic Opportunities Strategy because I truly think that that might be the right path. A lot of work has gone into developing that. Now it’s about the proper implementation.
This is work that can only be done by the territorial government, and I’m confident with the path led forward by the Economic Opportunities Strategy, this is one critical way that we can go that should deliver results. But knowing the right path often isn’t enough. It’s about real investment into the economy, supporting industries in a meaningful way, and meaningful industries that provide economic growth that drives new jobs. It’s also about a willingness to look into the regions and asking them what they want rather than this government or even the federal government telling them this is the way it’s going to be. Would the fishing industry work in Tulita? Probably not the same way it works in Hay River. That’s not to say they couldn’t have a fishing industry, it’s just it’s not a straight line application.
It’s easy to make slogans and statements by saying we need jobs everywhere, but the truth is it’s actually tough to do. I think that the reason we meet these challenges is not because they’re easy. We do them because they’re hard and they have to be done.
I look forward to talking more about the Economic Opportunities Strategy about how we get into the regions, because when I talk to Northerners in Yellowknife, Fort Simpson, Norman Wells and even Inuvik, they truly have the keys to what will make their region work. Again, we have to get the Economic Opportunities Strategy working from a territorial level into the region. Quite often I hear from businesses that it’s not just about money. Sometimes it’s about policy, and most of the time it’s about governments staying out of their way so they can get the job done.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
