I want to thank both of the presenters here today. I also want to say thank you for coming to the north and giving the message of a brighter economy. I think it was well received by the people in the audience. I was certainly happy to see that it countered the Conference Board of Canada's opinion.
I think in the north, calculations or issues that are factored into the economy are a little different. I always claim that we have to deal with the transportation infrastructure issue before we can lower costs to make it more attractive. We also have to deal with outstanding land claims and self-government negotiations, which would bring greater certainty and bring indigenous governments as full partners to the table.
I know it's not part of your policy report, but I think if it was exclusively on the north, they would certainly be factors. Maybe you want to say something on it. I did see a couple of concerns that were raised in your report that stood out. The two that you raised were labour shortages and transportation bottlenecks. These are both issues that we recognize very clearly in the Northwest Territories.
In Yellowknife, which is our capital, the employment rate is nearly 80%, which is 19% higher than any other community outside of the city. We have made quite a bit of progress in addressing the northern infrastructure gap, but it's still pretty significant. I want to know, if you could tell me, of the two, what do you believe is more of a hindrance to Canada's economic growth potential?