Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. [English translation not provided.]
Mr. Speaker, today I would like to speak about the Apprenticeship Program and its impact on small communities. In our small communities we have to bring trades personnel in to do work on our units and on our buildings. This is due to the lack of trades personnel at the community level.
Mr. Speaker, this is not to say we have no tradespeople at all, we do have a few, but much more is needed. For now, every tradesperson in a small community should have an apprentice working with them. In a community such as Fort Resolution and Lutselk’e, we have many skilled people that can do carpentry, plumbing and even electrical, but for the most part they are not certified and they need to be certified tradespeople in order to take advantage of the opportunities that are available to them within the community and the mining industry. This is another way of putting people in the small communities to work.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that this government has to do all it can with all of the departments working together to plan and organize all the work necessary at the community level. Mr. Speaker, the deferred maintenance alone in the GNWT buildings is over $300 million, not to mention any new construction our industry needs. With all of this work needed in our government, our government must coordinate itself, led by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, to take advantage of this, seize the opportunity to train and certify people and continue the work on the government’s objective to create a society that’s independent and self-sufficient.
Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is the small communities have the human resources needed to do the labour on these projects in the communities and around the communities. This government must find a way, find the money and develop policies to help people in the small communities sustain their economy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
