SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Patrick Doyle has been elected president of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce at a gloomy time for the city, and he's casting his net beyond Yellowknife.

"There's been a huge decline in exploration for minerals and oil and gas in the territories. That's going to affect a whole sectors of companies, whether it be charter companies, exploration companies," said Doyle, president of Twilite Security Ltd., which employs approximately 100 people in both the NWT and Nunavut, 40 of them in Yellowknife.

Mayor Gord Van Tighem swears in Patrick Doyle, newly-elected president of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce, at the chamber's annual President's Ball on Friday. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo The new board President Patrick Doyle, Twilite Security 1st Vice-President Jeff Barbutza, Northland Utilities 2nd Vice-President Warren McLeod, FSC Architects & Engineers Treasurer Linda Benedict, Yellowknife Daycare Association Directors David Connelly, Ile Royale; Pat Thagard, Behind The Scenes Event Planning; Mike Rarog, Arctic Response; Richard Barnes, Cold Mountain Computing; Gord Olson, Polar Tech; Diane MacIntosh, Canadian North; Shawnette MacNeil, Centre Square Developments; Andreas Tesfaye, CKLB; Peter Austin, Tundra Transfer; Stu Impett, Medic North

"A lot of these issues are more far-reaching than the Yellowknife municipal boundary. We are and will be Yellowknife-focused, but the effects of these outside factors impact us greatly and in a large part will dictate our competitiveness moving forward.

Together with former minister of Tourism, Industry and Investment Brendan Bell, Doyle has formed a Northern consultancy called Northern Strategy Group.

In October, the group will host a conference in Yellowknife aimed a creating a unified vision among all levels of government and industry on how to create future job opportunities by developing various infrastructure projects.

Projects to be discussed include the Bathurst Inlet Port and Road project, the Mackenzie Gas Project, the Mackenzie Valley Highway and the Tuktoyaktuk port.

"There's a lot of issues that people are looking to talk about. We really want to get industry and government together to talk about things like extending the life of the mines, strategic infrastructure," he said.

"We have one mine right now (Ekati) that's slated to close in 2018. There are things that, if investment is put up, could extend the life of that for 20 years."

Yellowknife is full of businesspeople who have lived through previous economic hard times, Doyle said, and it's those people he'll be turning to for advice on the days ahead.

"The history of the economy in Yellowknife is in this town and in this membership," he said. "We want to make sure we engage these people in the discussion."

Doyle, who has ambitions to become the majority owner of Twilite Security, served the company in Iqaluit before moving to Yellowknife two-and-a-half years ago.

"I think we'll be here a long time," he said of himself and his wife.