Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my riding in Nunakput are resource rich and cash poor. Our land, we have enough oil and gas for the Inuvialuit to prosper for generations. But, Mr. Speaker, resources are all locked up by our federal government.
Mr. Speaker, people in my riding are overcrowded homes, they have the highest cost of living, and they're the most food insecure. The struggle with the drug and alcohol addictions is everywhere, and there is little opportunity to work.
Mr. Speaker, we lack hope. We lack opportunities. We need the economy back. We need the oil and gas development so that the people could go back to work, earn a good living, pay their bills, buy their own homes and put food on the table. And when the oil and gas was going, all nine communities were prospering in the Beaufort Delta. Everyone was working. But, Mr. Speaker, this government is preventing Nunakput riding from getting ahead. Why isn't our Premier standing up for us? This federal government has extended the moratorium on the offshore for another year. It can't develop offshore resources. Why? But last year the federal government approved the oil and gas project off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador so they can approve the projects in the East Coast but why they're taking so long to provide for the North?
Oil and gas has been in the Delta since the '70s, '80s, '90s, and early 2000s, Mr. Speaker. I'm born and raised in Tuk, and I’ve seen it all. I’ve seen oil companies come and go. But everybody had work, and everybody had food. Why is the GNWT allowing this moratorium to drag on when our people need work? Mr. Speaker, the federal government is delaying development also and resources for settlement on M18, a natural gas project right outside of my home community of Tuk on 718 Inuvialuit lands. It is a settled land claim. We settled that land claim in 1984, 39 years ago, Mr. Speaker. And they're holding up the project. It's unacceptable.
Mr. Speaker, this project is delayed, and what is our GNWT doing about this? What is the GNWT saying to the federal government to get this project back on track and what is our Premier saying about the offshore? And I'll have questions for her later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Members' statements. Member for Yellowknife North.
