Mr. Speaker, mahsi cho. Today I want to address the issue of business opportunities. Everywhere in the North right now people are beginning to look ahead to the construction of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline. However, if we in the North are going to benefit from the opportunities the pipeline project is expected to bring, we need to be prepared, with businesses up and running for when the ball starts rolling. The opportunities that are expected to come will be diverse.

Construction of a pipeline will require a wide range of services, not all of them directly related to pipeline construction and engineering. One area that will see a significant increase in business opportunities is the airline business. Leaders in my riding have identified an opportunity there and are trying to take advantage of it. Chiefs from six communities have developed a proposal to consolidate existing local airlines into one large company that will be able to respond to the coming changes and take full advantage of them and profit thereby. The chiefs see the proposal as a way to take control of their own destiny.

I believe a proposal like this would be an efficient use of local resources and would contribute significantly to the economic independence of communities and would be a source of pride. As a government, we are supportive of such initiatives. In fact, one of our goals is self-reliant people and communities on the Northwest Territories. With this proposal, we must act quickly and efficiently or else there is a great danger we will lose out the opportunity that is being presented to us. Once again, established southern interests mainly move in, take over and our wealth will move out.

Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, the government doesn’t seem to understand the urgency of this issue for the chiefs. The Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, upon receipt of this proposal, indicated that historically it will take a year to process and make this proposal a reality; a year, Mr. Speaker. There probably won’t be an opportunity a year from now. The opportunity will have been lost to some other investments somewhere else. I want to impress upon the Minister and the government the need to respond quickly to this proposal and treat it with the urgency it requires. Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker.

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