Check against delivery 

Good morning and thank you for being here for the NWT Economic Partners' Collaboration Symposium.

I am pleased to see so many faces in the room. These types of events are important to the economic health of our territory. They give us an opportunity to speak openly about the challenges we’re facing, and work together to come up with suggestions about how best to address them, while still respecting the individual rights, legal authorities and priorities of each government.

Many of you were in Inuvik for the Northern Prosperity Economic Symposium. That event took place over 3 days.Following some healthy discussions guided by our facilitator Andy, the Government of the Northwest Territories and Indigenous governments agreed to a number of items.

We agreed that we need to take immediate steps to ensure a sustainable future for the North and its residents.  To do this we agreed we must address the economic challenges the Northwest Territories faces.

We agreed to work together to create a prosperous, sustainable future for the NWT, built on a strong diversified economy that recognizes the large role that non-renewable resource sectors like mining play.

And we also agreed that large-scale investment in northern energy, transportation and communications infrastructure corridors is key to creating investment and economic opportunities in all sectors.

Today it is good to be joined by industry. It is good to have industry here as an essential partner in the future of the territory.

The economic potential in the NWT is tremendous and our goals are ambitious. It is important that we work together to achieve these goals and work to ensure we can hold up our end of the economic bargain. Prosperous and growing economies do not have government as their central economic driver.  We must work together to make sure there are jobs available for our young people when they graduate.

To do this it will require significant investments and strong partnerships with many key partners and stakeholders, including the federal government.

With international interest and activity in the Arctic intensifying, Canada needs to make sure it takes a major role in setting the terms for activities, including how the abundant resources in the our region are developed. 

By working together we have an opportunity to help shape national policies and decisions. Canada must have a strong, sustainable presence in the North and the capacity to see to northern safety, security and sovereignty. 

We need to make the Northwest Territories a more attractive place to invest. By working together to continue to strengthen our working relationship, we can continue to improve investor confidence in order to create economic opportunities and shared prosperity through resource development across the North.

I look forward to the discussions we will have today and am confident that together, we can continue to build on our successes and find ways to ensure we leave a healthy and prosperous Northwest Territories for generations to come.

Thank you.  I look forward to our discussions.