Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment in regard to industry, trade and investment. In regard to my Member’s statement, I mentioned a company out of Calgary that was recruiting individuals in the Mackenzie Delta and trying to find people to work in the oil and gas industry in Alberta, preferably Fort McMurray. Again, we also have other industries in the N.W.T. that seem to be lacking in that type of endeavour. So I’d like to ask the Minister: would he pass on a message to the N.W.T. Mining Association that they can try a similar arrangement by recruiting outside of the North Slave in the N.W.T.?
The diamond companies in the Slave Geologic Province have been leaders in hiring out northern employees in the N.W.T., particularly from the North Slave region. We were following very closely the announcement that Flint Energy had decided to also look at the N.W.T. in an attempt to hire skilled workers. Having worked with the diamond companies, the socio-economic agreements that the Northwest Territories has signed with them, it came up as a result of the environmental review process. Certainly, this is an area in which we are having discussions with the diamond companies, and we’re hoping to be able to work something out in the near future.
Mr. Speaker, there are some $300 million in wages leaving the Northwest Territories every year and going south in Canada. Yet for residents of the Northwest Territories to get a job, now they have to go to Alberta to find work because the companies in the Northwest Territories are not hiring Northwest Territories residents. I think that as a government we have a responsibility to ensure we take care of the interests of residents of the Northwest Territories first.
I’d like to ask the Minister again: would he make sure the N.W.T. Mining Association along with Diavik, BHP, and other companies make their best efforts to look outside the North Slave of the N.W.T. and go to the Mackenzie Delta, to the Mackenzie Valley, and other places in the Northwest Territories to start recruiting other people from the Northwest Territories?
The three socio-economic agreements we have negotiated with the diamond companies require the hiring of employees from pick-up points at various centres in North Slave. The diamond companies have been quite successful in doing so. We are having discussions with them. We’ve expressed concern about arrangements whereby employees are being flown in directly from southern points, and we are having discussions with diamond companies to find the solution that would meet all of our different objectives.
Mr. Speaker, as a government I think we do have an obligation to the residents of the Northwest Territories I’d like to ask the Minister if he is willing to consider opening the socioeconomic agreement to expand it to include other regions of the Northwest Territories for employment in the mining industry.
The socio-economic agreements cannot be opened except by mutual consent, so we are looking at other avenues to increase the catchment area for the hiring of skilled N.W.T. employees.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that during the 15th Assembly the Minister’s predecessor opened up that agreement and allowed more people to be flown in from southern Canada, with no consideration for other people in the Northwest Territories. Since that was the position given to the companies in the 15th Assembly, I don’t see why this government could not also ask for an addition to that agreement, like we already gave in the previous negotiations. I’d like to ask the Minister again: will he consider opening up that agreement to ensure that there are more Northwest Territories residents working in the mining industry?
Mr. Speaker, certainly one of our objectives is to increase the hiring of Northwest Territories employees in all sectors. We think that we can achieve the objective that the Members laid out without having to open up the socio-economic agreements. We will be working towards that very end.
