Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] When we are here in Yellowknife we are talking about the budget and the people in the community are saying that we do not have enough money. It seems like we have to listen to people more diligently. [Translation ends].
They tend to depend on government to create jobs and opportunities. In the smaller communities half the people who have jobs work for either the GNWT or local governments.
With the current state of the economy this is not going to change any time soon. The employment rate in many communities is under 40 percent. In two-thirds of the Northwest Territories communities it is less than 50 percent. Think about that. In most communities there are no jobs for more than half our employment-aged people. How can we expect people to be healthy, and productive and independent when for so many even the most basic job is out of reach?
If our government cuts back its spending, there could be even more unemployment and even more people relying on income support. The number of people on income support has been rising steadily since the economic downturn in 2008. We typically have more than 1,500 people on income support and it costs this government more than $15 million a year to run this program.
While so many people struggle through life on very low incomes, prices of basic items in our small communities go up and up. The price of food in most of the Northwest Territories would shock most Canadians to the core. To make matters worse, this government has severely limited the caribou hunt in many communities. People are really feeling the squeeze from all sides.
This is the reality our government absolutely must address. We have to develop community economies.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
