Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to talk about revenue leakage, the loss of dollars, just like with a bathtub drain, out of the Northwest Territories, out of our communities. Solutions to plugging this drain would be a huge contribution to a healthy economic stimulus for the Northwest Territories. The Government of Canada announced this morning that $40 million is the subsidy that they provide for food mail for the North. They started to suggest that we grow our own food. What a concept.
This government subsidizes almost $140 million to various forms of cost-of-living expenses. When I worked in the community of Whati, I noticed that during flights into the community the aircraft were filled with things that could have been made and produced locally. I studied local retail outlets to see how much money was being spent on water, believe it or not, and pop, which is coloured water with sugar added. It was over $100,000 per year. Mr. Speaker, these are opportunities for local economic development. Commercial birch syrup is now happening in the Northwest Territories and could provide a source of fructose sweetener, which is a much better source of carbohydrates and nutrients than the refined sugars and artificial sweeteners we see in our pop.
Everybody knows what we’re spending on oil and gas and fuel. We’re shipping hundreds of millions of dollars from our communities to outside our Territories. With the export of dollars and the import of goods and services we send away our jobs, our skills, our opportunities and our local economies. With this go our health, our social supports, our self-sufficiency and our ability to make good local decisions on resource management.
Over the coming summer months our Cabinet will be developing the business plans for the 2009–2010 budget. They will be establishing a program review office, finally, to base the redirection and cuts on a sane and justified assessment of needs. They will develop new initiatives that establish a new approach with heightened efficiency and effectiveness. It is my hope that all of these good works will address our large and pressing challenges. In particular, I hope that the work, in a thoughtful and coordinated government-wide way, will plug our leaky economy, the flush of our dollars away from our communities and the loss of our basic skills, self-sufficiency and local development.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
Unanimous consent granted.
Mr. Speaker, I will be ready and demanding, when next we gather, to finally reverse some of these trends and truly do good work for the benefits of our residents, our land and our families.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
