Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these questions will be for the Premier.
Mr. Speaker, this government has been talking about postpandemic recovery since early last year. Then we finally saw the Emerging Stronger document. A lot has changed in a year, and I'm hoping those sitting across from me have revisited that document to make sure it is relevant and includes all areas of the economy and social systems with emphasis on those that were hit the hardest.
Can the Premier please tell the businesses and residents what, if anything, has changed in our Emerging Stronger document, which I understand to be a living document and will see revisions. When or will we see something new based on lessons learned? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Emerging Stronger document was tabled on May 31st, 2021, and we made a commitment then to update and review it annually. We are going to meet this commitment and will be tabling a revised document in the spring.
When we tabled our first document, we invited the public to provide feedback and input. While we did receive a fair amount of feedback, a lot has changed since then as we shift from a pandemic to an endemic.
This is a subject that will remain a shared interest with the Indigenous and community governments, the business, and the NGO community, and a continued focused with our federal government as well. So I'm looking forward to a new tabling as we go forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our GDP fell approximately 6.6 percent in 2020, mostly due to lower production with resource development. We saw losses in the tourism industry which impacted tourism operators, regional airlines, accommodation establishments, restaurants, and others. On the flip side, we saw an increase in retail sales, such as food, building supplies, and liquor while government and government contracts sustained much of our work force through this pandemic. Can the Premier explain what the real financial impact of the pandemic has been on our economy so far? Should residents and businesses be worried going forward? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the full financial impacts of this pandemic aren't known at this time. What we do know, as the Member stated, that there's been some sectors that have been particularly hit hard, such as the tourism and the hospitality sectors. But there's reason to be optimistic.
We do expect that there's a pent-up demand from Canadians and international travellers to come see the North. So as restrictions are eased, we're expecting our tourism industry to pick up again. And one area of financial impact that we don't really know, and we're seeing lately, is the extension and duration of the inflationary pressures caused by disrupted supply chains and high demands, particularly for the construction industry. Many jurisdictions around the world are trying to stimulate their own economies through infrastructure investments. So this is going to impact us. So we'll be making our best assessments on these pressures and adjusting our own plans accordingly as we go forward.
But should residents be worried? That's what I think the Speaker wants to hear.
I'm really optimistic that no, I'm optimistic that we'll continue to work with our partners and engage the industry in ways that will further promote our economic recovery. There's encouraging signs that people want to travel again. They want to spend money in hotels and restaurants again, and they want to get back to a new sense of normalcy with residents where they can mingle, and they can invest, and businesses can once again thrive. So I am optimistic, Mr. Speaker, that things will improve. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Emerging Stronger document talks about lessons learned. Now a year later, can the Premier tell this House what lessons were learned, what gaps have been identified, and how are they being addressed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thanks, Mr. Speaker. I said earlier we're still assessing. We don't know the full extent of how the pandemic has impacted us. However, we're able to draw some initial lessons from the actions that we took initially to support individuals and businesses.
Emerging Stronger, for example, includes commitments to review the NWT Housing Corporation policies, and we made a commitment to do that with Indigenous governments, which is really exciting work during this term of the government. We're going to be accelerating the work on the alcohol strategy because of the pandemic and increasing support for addictions. And we'll be revisiting efforts to promote and diversify our economy because of the pandemic as well. So more lessons learned will be identified as we work through the updating of this recovery plan, as I noted, and it will be tabled in this spring coming up. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Final supplementary, Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, knowing that another severe variant may rear its ugly head, from lessons learned does this government have a plan in place or that addresses business relief and support and social supports if we find ourselves taking a step backwards in this pandemic? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, we're not waiting. Changes have already been made to address how we coordinate internally, how we partner with Indigenous governments and community governments. And work has been undertaken to better prepare ourselves and our communities for future outbreaks. This work, I believe, will support better emergency planning generally, not just if there's a pandemic or COVID.
Based on our experience over the past two years and the supports that we've implemented, we'll be better prepared to respond accordingly should the pandemic move in the wrong direction.
I want to stress also, though, we're not going to be starting in the same place. While we remain diligent, there's a lot of reason to be optimistic, including the vaccines that we have now and the antivirals that weren't available at the beginning of this pandemic two years ago. So it'll be a different starting place, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Thank you, Honourable Premier. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
