Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I cited yesterday many reasons why so many of our small businesses are having such a difficult time. One of the main issues that I mentioned was the lack of labour, Mr. Speaker. We have a shortage of labour, skilled and unskilled, in every sector of our industries. I don’t think it is just in Yellowknife, but in other regions where there is a lot of economic activity. Mr. Speaker, the problem is particularly severe for fast-food and fast service businesses where the employees are not able to compete with the government or big corporations, although they do go out of their way to make their employment benefits package as attractive as well.

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that it is so difficult for them to find enough full-time reliable help that they are actually looking overseas to find help. In fact, it is not unusual for me to get a phone call to see if I could help them with finding help from the country of my ancestry, which is Korea. Not only that, Mr. Speaker, but the immigration office in Yellowknife is so under-resourced and not mandated fully to address and help those employers who might be looking to bring help from overseas.

Mr. Speaker, on the other hand, when I had the constituency meeting a couple of weeks ago, I learned from one of my constituents that, in fact, there is a surgeon and a pharmacist working as check-out cashiers at one of our box stores. I must say, Mr. Speaker, while I realize these stores offer a lot of products, I don’t think surgery is one of them.

Mr. Speaker, I have to tell you that this issue deals with a lack of skilled labour or lack of any kind of labour, especially industry that is labour intensive, but also we have a lot of red tape and barriers that is getting in the way of professional people who are already in Yellowknife finding their jobs. I am not hearing enough from this government and the federal government to help the businesses deal with this issue. In the days to come, I would like to see some more direction and leadership from the Minister of Employment, who is also now responsible for Human Resources, to come up with a policy to address this situation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause