Finance Committee on Oct. 25th, 2011

[Tara Christie]

I think they certainly have worked with our association, and some of the federal programs have been successful. I think they can focus a few more to assist us, particularly with first nations, because a lot of people in our industry who we're able to hire and are available in these rural communities are young first nations, because those are the demographics of the north.

It's not only for first nations. We also need to be able to hire the non-first-nations people and potentially have some programs to assist them.

In terms of infrastructure and assisting on roads and broadband, I certainly think there's a role, particularly in developing some of the feasibility and helping us to develop partners. Once there's a plan and an overall strategy, industry's very good at helping raise the other capital.

Adding to the infrastructure and broadband comment, we're also heavily dependent on satellite in northern Canada, not only in Yukon, but in the rest of the northern territories. The Telesat satellite, which was launched with the help of the Government of Canada many years ago, failed recently and caused huge Internet outages across all northern Canada. There simply is not enough redundancy in the north. We can't be dependent on one cable with Northwestel for the bottom half of the territory and one satellite in the north. It's not safe for the communities or for industry, and it certainly is a big hindrance to our businesses.

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

I'm taking that as a yes.

[Tara Christie]

Yes.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

One minute.

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

How far away are the cruise ports?

[Krista Prochazka]

Skagway and Haines, Alaska, both have cruise ports. Haines is about five hours and Skagway is about two, two and a half hours from here, but only about an hour from Carcross, the town south of here.

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

I don't think anybody is old enough at this table, but does the name Harold Marston mean anything? He was a United Church minister here. He's my uncle.

[Krista Prochazka]

Yes, it does.

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

It's a long time ago, though.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Okay, thank you, Mr. Marston.

We'll go to Mr. Adler, please.

[Mark Adler, Conservative, York Centre, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

I would like to make one correction, Mr. Marston. You're like a fine wine, you just get better with age.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Please.

[Mark Adler, Conservative, York Centre, ON]

It's such a pleasure to be here in Whitehorse. It's my first visit. Unfortunately, we'll not be here for very long, but I do hope to come back for a more extended period of time.

My first question is to Ms. Babcock.

As you know—and you came out in support of this earlier—our government is committed to balancing the books. Some have come out in favour of raising taxes, of increased deficit spending. In your opinion, what would that do to the Canadian economy at large, and to your members in particular, if we were to go down that latter road?

[Sandra Babcock]

I think that to the Canadian business community at large it would stifle business growth. For Yukon, it would more than stifle business growth. As I said earlier, we're in a high-cost-of-living area, a high-cost area to do business. Because of our geographic location and our distance to markets, it would cripple our economy. I don't think that's the message we want to be sending to the business community, when global markets are still unstable. People are still nervous, with the global meltdown that we had a couple of years ago.

[Mark Adler, Conservative, York Centre, ON]

Thank you.

To follow up, as you know, since becoming Prime Minister, Prime Minister Harper has made eight visits to the north since 2006; he's made that a priority. And he said back in 2008:

As Canadians, we see ourselves as a northern people. The great white north is as much a part of Canada's identity as the red maple leaf.

He has also outlined a four-point northern strategy for strengthening Canada's Arctic sovereignty, protecting the fragile environment, promoting economic and social development, giving northerners more control over their political and economic destiny.

I am wondering if you could comment on that and the priority this government has given the north, more so than any other government in Canada's history, and how that has benefited the north.

[Sandra Babcock]

It's incredible, the commitment to the north that the Prime Minister has given. We've never seen that before. I don't even think that with John Diefenbaker we saw this level of commitment and vision for the north.

In terms of the northern strategy, I would probably want to limit my comments to the economic development, but again, it goes back to the detailed economic development strategy that recognizes the uniqueness of each territory, because we are incredibly unique from our sister territories to the east. Our needs are very different. We enjoy a great road infrastructure in the territory that the other two territories don't have. We have probably a more mature government, if you will, at the regional level.

Again, it's that lack of a comprehensive economic development strategy that I really think waters down the northern strategy.

[Mark Adler, Conservative, York Centre, ON]

You mentioned that the unemployment rate is 5.1% in the Yukon. That's virtually full employment.

[Sandra Babcock]

Yes, it is.

[Mark Adler, Conservative, York Centre, ON]

Our government is also committed to getting rid of red tape and government redundance, in terms of programming and that sort of thing. That's something, I gather, your members would be in favour of.

[Sandra Babcock]

I think probably Tara could speak a little bit more to the regulatory environment, but yes, I think we have quite a superior regulatory environment we operate in.

In terms of the labour market, the labour market is definitely an issue, our labour force. In the 1990s businesses really downsized in the territories and they went back to being owner-operated. Now, because of all the economic activity, they do not have the capacity to be an owner-operator and they need to develop their staff, which they have not had the ability to do because of the limited economy. In developing their middle management, developing their safety, I think the way we do business has changed over the last twenty years. So labour forces are a big issue for the territory. The Yukon has enjoyed the foreign worker program. We make great use of that program. It has been very, very beneficial to the territory, as well as the nominee program.

[Mark Adler, Conservative, York Centre, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you.

We'll go to Monsieur Giguère, s'il vous plaît.

[Alain Giguère, NDP, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

My first question is for the representative of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada. Presently what is your problem regarding the value of the Canadian dollar in comparison to the American dollar? Is it a significant problem?

[Tara Christie]

It certainly is. As a gold producer, we sell our product in U.S. dollars and then convert it to Canadian. We buy our fuel in U.S. dollars and it's converted to Canadian. Our parts often come from the States. So the ever-changing exchange rate certainly causes some problems, particularly when you have suppliers that purchase products when the dollar is one way or the other and then try to resell them in Canada. We certainly see huge fluctuations in prices, and those have been a challenge for us. We have both sides, because we sell our commodities as well as purchasing parts. For an individual company it really depends on what part of the cycle they are at, but recently the hit has been pretty hard at times because there's been such dramatic fluctuation.

I don't know if that answers your question.