SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Opportunities North, the North's annual business conference, kicked off Wednesday evening.
Premier Bob McLeod stressed the importance of diversification at the Opportunities North conference on Thursday at the Explorer Hotel. |
This year's event included panels on agriculture, the Arctic Inspiration Prize, knowledge partnerships, international trade, aboriginal land claims and the digital divide. Notably absent during the panels was explicit discussion of the resource sector, although it was a major part of Premier Bob McLeod's keynote address.
"Mining and mineral-related activities are, and for some time will be, the largest provider of jobs, and the main driver of the territorial economy. We need the benefits from this non-renewable resource production to enable our investment into other sectors of the economy," he said Thursday morning.
Referring to resource development as "foundational," McLeod spoke of the need for the advancement of a "framework of certainty" to lure investment to the North, and the need for economic diversity.
McLeod also highlighted the tourism sector, which has evolved into a $146-million industry in the last fiscal year and is projected to increase, McLeod said, by $9 million across the territory annually.
"A picture is emerging of a stronger, broader economy," said McLeod, adding that strategies were in development for the agriculture, fishing and manufacturing sectors.
But that doesn't mean the days of mining and extraction are a thing of the past in the North.
"Premier McLeod didn't talk about diversification in terms of natural resources or clean energy or tourism: he used the word 'and.' And so the Opportunities North conference is about exploring all of the opportunities that are available to diversify the economy of the North, along with our anchor tenant, which is the resource industry," said NWT Chamber of Commerce president Richard Morland.
"What we want to do is create an economy which is more insulated from the cyclic highs and lows that occur in a purely resource based economy."
Morland said the reason senior resource industry leaders were not speaking at the conference was scheduling difficulties – a positive sign that their industries are doing well enough they're too busy to attend.
Northern Air Transport Association executive director Glenn Priestley says diversification just makes sense.
"When one part goes down another section stands up," he said. "Canada is an extraction-based economy. We take a lot out of the ground, we make a lot of money by sending it elsewhere, but diversification allows us maybe to do more with the product in the country, allows us possibly to divert into other industries that will keep going after the mine closes."
Tourism is painted as the shining light for the Northwest Territories, and particularly for Yellowknife. The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment reports that in the 2014-15 period, visitor spending territory-wide increased 11 per cent, with outdoor adventure spending up to $6 million – an increase of 46 per cent from the year before. Aurora viewing also increased by $26.8 million, despite the fact that the number of visitors actually decreased last year by 24 per cent.
But to encourage these alternative industries, as well as allowing the resource sector to grow, Priestley pointed to a need for infrastructure.
"There should be some type of funding set up so that all of Canada is helping support the North," he said. "The key message is that the federal government is not meeting its responsibilities to a national Northern aviation infrastructure program. And that's what is needed."
