A year ago, the outlook for Yellowknife was bleak. Now, the future is brightening with the prospect of a secondary diamond industry.

But secondary industry far from a done deal. The diamond community hates letting anyone new in. Just last month, industry captains advised Yellowknifers to stick to mining, a line that had been swallowed in part by high-level federal officials, if not the minister.

But after the efforts of concerned organizations and individuals, a very different picture is emerging. A good example was the visit last weekend by a diamond-processing company once close to setting up shop in Calgary but now seriously considering Yellowknife.

The GNWT, which has aggressively and effectively lobbied the federal government and the mining companies, is getting other offers.

Mayor Dave Lovell will be instrumental in how the city's success managing the opportunities BHP's Ekati mine brings. He must be supported in any initiative that raises Yellowknife's profile in the diamond community, even if it means another trip to Europe or Africa or the ends of the earth. That's the way the global game is played.

Council may be left to deal the homefires such as the arena and the direction of city hall administration, both of which promise to be contentious issues. Aldermen must inform themselves, test their thoughts on the electorate, and base their decisions on what's happening in the city now, with a view to the future.

With land values and gold prices in a slump, with city hall changing gears from the old administration's spending habits, and the effect of division unknown, we can't afford to act as if the streets are already paved with gold or diamonds.

Streets will be paved with sweat and the job has just begun. And anyone who can't imagine how crucial the diamond industry is to Yellowknife only has to imagine if this city wasn't the capital of the NWT.

Apparently the GNWT's grant of $400,000 to the city of Yellowknife has raised the ire of a couple of out-of-town MLAs.

The money is to be spent on economic development and was given to the city to cushion the impact of the recent economic setbacks caused by government cutbacks and dismal gold prices.

Like it or not, Yellowknife is the engine that drives the economic machine in the territories. The other communities only benefit from a fiscally healthy capital. Name a prosperous jurisdiction and at its centre you will find an economically sound urban centre. While the decision to give the money to the city may not play well politically, it is economic good sense.

It's good to see private corporations taking an interest in our children's education. The city's Coca-Cola distributor, Petersen and Auger, for example, has already come forward generously with money and sports equipment.

Though the troublesome idea that businesses might expect something in return for their charity -- product promotion in the classroom springs to mind -- so far it looks like our school boards are managing to keep education and corporate interests separate.

In an ideal world, schools wouldn't need to go looking for help beyond the government. But this is the real world, and everyone, businesses included, have a stake in ensuring Yellowknife's students get the best education possible.

MLA Jane Groenewegen has embarked on quite a crusade.

Tired of coffee-shop gossip and innuendo, the Hay River MLA has set the legislature on fire in recent weeks.

Her stated goal? Trying to shed light on GNWT leasing practices and other government operations.

And, she's filed a complaint with the conflict of interest commissioner asking that the whole matter of public confidence in the GNWT be examined.

Because of this, she's faced some heat around the hallowed halls of the NWT legislature.

Perhaps the MLA is simply grandstanding. Perhaps. And, not knowing the politician personally, I am in no position to make that call.

But, when someone is willing to go to bat and take some heat in the name of opening up government to the very citizens who pay the bills in the first place, they deserve support.

If Groenewegen is wrong, she'll eventually face judgement in the court of public opinion.

However, from everything I've heard around here, there are many people who feel there is something not right with the government. Groenewegen's questions have struck a chord among more than a few.

And, while a general unease with some members of the government -- Jim Antoine excepted as this reporter can honestly say that he's never heard a negative comment about the man or his policies in eight months on the job here -- might be unjustified, the politician who ignores such feelings is doing so at their own political peril.

For starters, opening up the GNWT to full public scrutiny might help. The government's freedom of information legislation is a farce. The exemptions are so numerous that at the end of the day, it's tough to determine just what indeed it is that we citizens are entitled to know about our government.

While the odd request from a reporter might be embarrassing sometimes, overall, a more open process would benefit politicians and the government in the end.

When citizens know they have a mechanism in place to check the word of government, they feel a little better.

And, the willingness to go public usually means there is nothing to hide in the first place.

Anyway, to make a long story short, that Groenewegen's questions have struck a chord here is a matter that the premier and his colleagues should be concerned with.

A few notes that have nothing whatsoever to do with politics or even Yellowknife. I owe an apology to a young Fort Simpson hockey player named Liam Hardisty. I left the forward's picture out of last week's photo feature on the IPL Pipeliners.

A long time ago now, I was an atom hockey player. So, with that in mind, I know full well what a bone-head mistake I made.

So, Liam, you name the time and place and I'll be there to take your picture for the Drum and we'll get you on the sports page.

This week, Drum readers are getting two very different looks at learning.

There is the rah-rah campaign by members of the Edmonton Eskimos, whose talents for a sport gave them scholarships and a chance to make their lives count beyond their wildest dreams, who are travelling to Northern schools to encourage kids to get the education that they are going to need, even if they don't know it yet.

Then there's Elijah Allen, who personifies what education is about. Not rock music, not dodgeball games, very little fun at all -- just hours of sitting alone with a book wondering when it will all start to make sense, and sticking to it until it did.

One is show business, albeit well-intentioned show business that fired up the kids for a few days. The other is education.

School is not a lot of fun. Learning, in fact, whether it is learning to play the guitar, to box, to fix a car or read a book, is rarely fun. It's difficult. It's scary. For a lot of people, it's too scary. Which for many, is the reason they drop out or don't take on anything new.

Because when the celebrities leave and you're left all alone trying to do something that other people can do far better than you and you're wondering if you'll ever be able to do it at all -- that's when education starts. Or in many cases, ends.

Yet school, and a lot of school, is no longer optional. The big money is there or in the trades. It comes from hard work and forcing yourself to learn something new to progress, and we're not talking about one of the current blights on our school system, the guaranteed pass for self-esteem reasons.

Education is a long road that never stops. Ask Jedd Roberts, who happens to be a football player but is also the product of a troubled family background and still suffers from hearing problems that made it nearly impossible for him to hear what was said to him in a bustling gym this week. Learning to speak is a challenge that makes simply showing up at school every day and doing the work laughable by comparison.

Success stories in the North can be difficult to find because they're not here to inspire young learners: they are in universities or jobs in the south. There are lots of failures still around to influence the students, though.

That influence is not an easy thing to overcome, but this week, from an elder who learned to read, to a rapt audience of youngsters listening to people they look up to telling them that one of the few things that matters is their schooling, a lesson of its own was delivered.

Namely, that you're never too old to learn. And you're never too young to start.