Foreign Affairs committee  And it comes back to the point of healthy communities. People want to live in communities where there are schools, where there are amenities, where things look relatively nice, where you're being looked after, and where there is diversification of economic opportunity, for sure.

Foreign Affairs committee  Oh yes, absolutely. Northerners want economic opportunity. They want well-paying jobs. Whether they live in one of the capitals or in one of the communities, they want to be contributing members of Canadian society.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. There is often a schism, though, and it's in the report as well. The aboriginal population of the north, of course, has a certain connection to the land that does not always correspond with the way industry goes in. This is why we have mechanisms in place through which we ne

Foreign Affairs committee  The type of housing I'm talking about is public housing. The way public housing in the north is put together, your rent is determined by your income. As soon as people start making money, whether they're employed in the resource industry or somewhere else, the rent goes up becaus

Foreign Affairs committee  They can, but a lot of people are not—

Foreign Affairs committee  They might be if they're making good money, but then you run into the boom and bust cycle in many communities, and you never quite know.... Each mine has a life cycle to it. What we find is that in communities that are economically “mono”, in the sense that they are dependent on

Foreign Affairs committee  You're welcome.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, certainly there are people who are qualified to build these good homes, no doubt about it. I think the country is moving in that direction. There have been enough examples of how the current housing stock is not meeting needs, both on and off reserve, and there are lots of p

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, or it has to be a made-in-the-north solution in a certain sense. The north is extremely human resources and financially constrained, so partnerships are the way to go here—solid partnerships where you are not cutting corners, honest, long-lasting partnerships. Then you need

Foreign Affairs committee  Your point is taken, and congratulations on the Deh Cho bridge, a huge accomplishment for the Northwest Territories.

Foreign Affairs committee  Built with no funds from the federal government, and it's a source of pride for sure for the Northwest Territories. I can only lament the fact that the write-up of the event in The Globe and Mail called the premier Ed McLeod instead of Bob McLeod, which might have rubbed some pe

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. I think it really comes down to the people aspect: if we do not invest in the people, then I don't think we have a viable Arctic. Who's going to live in Alert if they're not looked after to a certain extent?

Foreign Affairs committee  I find it really interesting that the federal government is investing in an Arctic research station, which I think is going to be a good thing, but not in a deep sea water port. Right now, the Yukon is looking to Skagway. They're looking to Alaska. Infrastructure gaps are one o

Foreign Affairs committee  Diamond mining in the Northwest Territories is actually on the way down. I was up in the Northwest Territories last week, where I met with the premier and gave a presentation at the Northern Economic Development Practitioners conference. While I was there, the GDP for the Northwe

Foreign Affairs committee  The window for building anything in the Arctic is short, as we know. One of the case studies we have in the report—and that's the one that pertains to Nunavut—demonstrates that you can actually, in the factories in the south, create the types of panels and other units that you ca