Natural Resources committee  I would certainly agree with Mr. Graham that any kind of—

Natural Resources committee  The Yukon Chamber doesn't really have a position on that. Of course, we would welcome increasing that tax incentive for northerners, the northern living allowance. We do live in a higher cost jurisdiction. Housing's higher, food's higher, and transportation is more expensive. It's one of our challenges in attracting people to come here to live and work.

Natural Resources committee  Particularly in the resource development area they are very strong. I want to preface that by saying that the Yukon is more of an inclusive society. For instance, we don't break down first nation-owned or non-first nation-owned business in our membership. We're all business. We're all part of the community and we all contribute and benefit from it.

Natural Resources committee  That's a very good question; it would probably depend on who you ask. From the chamber's perspective, we're talking public infrastructure, not necessarily projects to service a specific project. There is an obligation to provide energy to the public within the territory, and that comes from our crown corporation, Yukon Energy.

Natural Resources committee  I know that I mentioned rail. Yukon recently renewed their cooperative agreement with the State of Alaska. For your interest, Yukon shares the longest Canada-U.S. border. It's with Alaska. It's the longest one in the country. That's a little piece of trivia for you. We have a lot of exchange back and forth.

Natural Resources committee  We are starting to experience a shortage of broadband width in the territory. For example, the Yukon College—based in Whitehorse but with campuses throughout the territory—delivers some of its classes via video conference but has actually had to cancel classes on occasion because it didn't have the broadband width to deliver the whole class.

Natural Resources committee  One of the things we haven't touched on in terms of infrastructure is port access in the north, either in the high Arctic, or Yukon, which has been very successful in accessing a port in Alaska through the community of Skagway. Particularly, when you're looking at transportation of your resources, port access would be a huge benefit to the resource extraction industry.

Natural Resources committee  I can speak to the Yukon—

Natural Resources committee  Sorry, Hugh. We'll go alphabetical. I'm going first. In Yukon, the Mine Training Association does have private sector partnerships. The mining community proponents do invest financially, as well as with their time and perspective on the training requirements they have, to ensure we're training people for the right jobs and that there will be jobs for them afterwards.

Natural Resources committee  That is correct. Industry negotiated very strongly to have that put in place, and it's provided the certainty that we were looking for.

Natural Resources committee  No, because it doesn't streamline the rules. It only streamlines the process. That's what it is. It's a process.

Natural Resources committee  I have never seen that breakdown within the territory of aboriginal and non-aboriginal employment. What we have seen is that through impact and benefit agreements between a proponent and a first nation, where they're operating in their traditional territory, the training has definitely increased.

Natural Resources committee  I don't see that being an issue in the territory. The Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act is designed to capture all projects. I can give you an example. They have an online registry that you can subscribe to, and it gives you notifications of all applications or changes or decisions that are made.

Natural Resources committee  I would say the latter. The environmental assessment, the YESAA, was born out of the Yukon Umbrella Final Agreement, which provided the framework for the negotiation of Yukon land claims, so this is supported by first nations. Industry was very cynical, I guess you would have to say, about bringing in the YESA Act and implementing it.

Natural Resources committee  Correct.