Fort Simpson (Oct 27/03) - The Deh Cho isn't getting its fair share of business development services, says Deh Cho MLA Michael McLeod.

McLeod spent part of the last session in the legislative assembly calling on Economic Development Minister Jim Antoine to ensure Fort Providence, Kakisa, Enterprise and Hay River Reserve have access to Community Futures programs, which are accessible to most other Northern communities.

The issue has been ignored by the government for six years, according to McLeod, who said he first raised it when he was elected MLA three years ago.

"The resources are very, very scarce in terms of business assistance," he said.

Antoine referred to the absence of services as an oversight. In a subsequent interview with the Deh Cho Drum, Antoine said the Deh Cho Business Development Centre's (BDC) board, which serves Nahendeh riding communities, is looking at expanding its services to cover the Deh Cho communities in question.

"Things are evolving everyday," Antoine said. "But it's really up to the (BDC) board. They may need extra dollars from RWED (Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development) to do that."

McLeod also chastised the GNWT for doing little to help the communities prepare for a Mackenzie Valley pipeline.

"They haven't put a dime towards any training. They've provided some core funding to the APG (Aboriginal Pipeline Group), but that's it," he said.

He added that the territorial government has only renamed its existing training and apprenticeship programs to make it sound like they have created new opportunities.