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4 Tuesday August 11 2015 The Northern Journal is an independent newspaper covering news and events in the western Arctic and northern Alberta. 2013 CCNA BLUE RIBBON CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2013 C M C A AUDITED The Northern Journal is published weekly by Cascade Publishing Ltd. Printed at Star Press Inc. Wainwright AB. Publisher................................................................................. Don Jaque 867-872-3000 ext.21 donnorj.ca Editor.........................................................................Meagan Wohlberg 867-872-3000 ext.24 newsnorj.ca Reporter....................................................................... Dali Carmichael 867-872-3000 ext.25 reporternorj.ca Comptroller ..................................................... Dixie Penner 867-872-3000 ext.23 dixnorj.ca Advertising.............................. Heather Foubert Hay River 867-874-4106 adsnorj.ca Administration............................................Jeremy Turcotte 867-872-3000 ext.26 adminnorj.ca Production Manager ......................................Sandra Jaque 867-872-3000 ext.22 sandranorj.ca Graphics........................................................Paul Bannister 867-872-3000 ext.27 graphicsnorj.ca Letters to the Editor Policy The Northern Journal welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be signed and include a phone number so the author can be veried. Names will be withheld on request in special circumstances where the reasons are determined to be valid. The Journal reserves the right to edit letters for length libel clarity and taste. Opinions expressed in letters and columns are not necessarily those of the publisher or editor. Advertising Deadlines Display ad deadline is Thursday at 400 p.m. Classied ad deadline is Thursday at 500 p.m. Email adsnorj.ca Subscription Rates Prices include GST. 47.25 in Fort Smith 52.50 elsewhere in Canada 105 in the USA overseas 164.30. EDITORIAL LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Critical role of small business in local economies Community-based re planning is essential Editor I liked your sensible editorial on fire planning. I pretty much reached the same conclusions as you a number of years ago. In 2012 I was asked to speak about landscape fire challenges at the Wildfire Fire Canada conference httpwww.ual- berta.cawildfire2012PDFsMark20 Heathcott.pdf. This biennial conference series provides a forum for fire manage- ment agencies to exchange information. At that time I had over three decades of fire experience including five years in Wood Buffalo at Fort Smith 1988-1992. I left government fire service in 2007 but have remained independently involved in fire management since then. I feel that community-based planning implementation and continued evaluation of actions is essential. For fixed assets like communities and other infrastructure this is best done at the local level. These assets need to be made resilient to fire using existing technology used in indus- trial applications. For instance wildland fire pumps Wajax Mark 3 and forestry hose 1.5 were developed for portabil- ity as theyre continually set up and torn down on remote fires. As a result perfor- mance-wise they provide limited water when compared to agricultural irrigation equipment powerful pumpslarge diam- eter hose or pipe which remain relatively stationary. Community-based protection could be enhanced using high volume water delivery systems and sprinklers. Installed the question then becomes when to turn the system on. From here its no stretch to see burning off the hazardous fuel be- fore wildfires approach and in time a full blown community-based prescribed fire program. The end result would be man- aged forests around where people live just like the old days. Mark Heathcott Calgary While unions pressure governments and corpo- rations for better wages benets and perks small businesses lag further and further behind creating a skewed system where employees of small busi- nesses are poor second cousins. If Northern communities are ever to have viable local economies the only way is to take advantage of the entrepreneurial spirit and dedication of those who start and run small businesses but that fact is not appreciated or even understood. Government departments with high-paid staff and big budgets are not the ones who create jobs. They assist and build on the ef- forts of the individuals who do. Oddly those in the private sector the ones with the greater value are too often not rewarded with good incomes and job security. Few people have the entrepreneur gene that special combination of organizational skills including the desire to serve the pub- lic and the drive that gets them to start a business and take risks. Running a business in a community with a small population is particularly tough. There is barely enough volume to make money which is why so many businesses offer an array of services or products attempting to expand their areas of opportunity in order to succeed. Whether or not any business does well depends on a number of factors the ability and instincts of the business person the desirability or need of their offering to the public and how well the community is doing economically. That third point hav- ing an environment that breeds success is critical and that is the area that needs work. Much of the economy in Canadas North is dependent on government so large and per- vasive that it creates its own industry. More and more government services are being centralized into the capital cities. Without government demand to sustain them there is little need for services or retail support at the community level. Whitehorse already dominates the Yukon while Nunavut has stronger regional centres. The centralized NWT government model continues to evolve sustaining the economy of Yellowknife but eroding any prospects in the communities. The promotion of large-scale resource de- velopment projects the only other initiative bolstering community economies is an op- portunity for those with specic skills and the stomach for an away-from-home life- style usually two weeks in two weeks out that only suits certain people. Plus projects like that require international demand for resources and so offer an uncertain future. That takes us back to the critical need to fos- ter economic development at the community level. The best way to do that is to encour- age entrepreneurism. How best to do that Most communities as well as the territo- rial governments have a local preference policy intended to foster and sustain home- grown small businesses. Those types of pro- grams are often criticized. Detractors claim they bloat the cost of goods and services. A past study examining the cost of the NWT governments Business Incentive Program BIP with its two-tiered preference incen- tives local and territorial for all government purchases found the cost of the program was miniscule. In fact we suggest that such pro- grams do not go far enough. Security for small business employees is tenuous as it depends on the ability of the key entrepreneur to make good choices for the company to do well. Private sector pay is well below that of government and corporate employees and benets are minimal. While unions pressure governments and corpora- tions for better wages benets and perks small businesses lag further and further be- hind creating a skewed system where em- ployees of small businesses are poor second cousins. That is not how it should be. In a rapidly changing world although new opportunities are springing up through the internet the challenges for community-based businesses continually grow greater. The pot of gold at the end of that elusive rainbow is a moving target for the entrepreneur and can quickly vapourize leaving little return for a lifetime of work. That is hardly incentive to get into business. Small businesses the services and products they provide and the jobs generated will re- main essential critical even to communities into the future. That is all the more reason to put high value on those few individuals whose initiatives will result in viable community businesses. What is needed the challenge is to provide an environment in communities that encourages and supports small business so that they can be protable and offer de- cent wages and benets to their employees. PhotoscourtesyoftheTlichoGovernment Members of the Tlicho community converged by air and water upon Behchoko on Aug. 6 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Tlicho Agreement which established the Tlicho Government. Festivities included a feast treaty payments a tea dance and reworks. At top Chief Clifford Daniels of Behchoko greets attendees arriving by canoe at bottom drummers accompany a prayer song at the beginning of the feast.