Bob McLeod

Affordable childcare is important for families. I support responsible policy and program development that supports the Government of the Northwest Territories' mandate item of making childcare available and affordable for families.

I guess, first of all, we will have to determine: this may be the one and only ministerial appointment in the Government of the Northwest Territories. I guess that would be my first step, to determine whether that is the case or not. If there is more than one ministerial appointment, then we would determine whether there are enough ministerial appointments that would warrant to have more oversight. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The appointment the Member refers to is a ministerial appointment. The position for which the appointment was made is consistent with section 107, subsection 3, of the Workers' Compensation Act.

Mr. Speaker, on January 16, 2019, I had the honour of signing the self-government agreement-in-principle for the Sahtu Dene and Metis of Norman Wells, alongside our negotiating partners, the Government of Canada and the Norman Wells Land Corporation.

Reaching this Self-Government Agreement-in-Principle represents a significant step in the journey toward fulfilling the obligation to negotiate self-government in the 1993 Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement. More importantly, this agreement-in-principle represents a key milestone in the journey towards self-government and self...

Yes, we certainly are prepared to do that. We are still in contact with the Chinese, People's Republic, friends of the people who usually host us when we go to China. There is still a possibility that we could go there before the end of the term of this government. With regards to tourism, we continue to market the Northwest Territories to Chinese tourists, and I think that we are prepared to look at further investment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our relationship with China goes back a long way and, if anything, the recent tightening of the Chinese government on subnational investments and business has had a limited effect on our territory. Most of the investments were in mining. We did have some business investment and, with the crackdown on a number of areas, some of the Chinese businesspeople who were here, we haven't seen in a while, but as far as I can tell, the most visible Chinese visitors are the Chinese tourists. I have not seen a decrease in their visitation. It could be a concern. The Chinese could...

We have done a lot of work with the Chinese over the past. We have developed a China Strategy for the Northwest Territories. We have also been looking at investing in sister cities or provinces. We just recently had a Chinese counsellor visiting us, meeting with the Minister of Economic Development, and he assured us that it was business as usual. Destinations Canada, who have offices in China and Beijing, have also reassured us that it is still business as usual, at least in the tourism business. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Other than what we see in the media, there has been no reaching out by the Government of Canada to us. I believe that, the incident at Huawei, Canada was following the rule of law. The fact that a number of individuals were apprehended in China gives us pause to think. We were planning a trade mission to China for this year, but we have since put it on the back burner. We are waiting to see what happens.

I have met the Chinese ambassador to Canada, but it was before some of the latest incidents happening.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the honourable Alfred Moses will be absent from the House today to attend the federal-provincial-territorial Ministers' conference in Red Deer, Alberta. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I was very pleased to be able to go to Norman Wells in January to sign the self-government agreement-in-principle for the Sahtu Dene and Metis of Norman Wells. This is a significant milestone that all parties should be proud of. In addition, the Sahtu Dene and Metis of Tulita are reviewing a self-government agreement-in-principle for finalization, and self-government negotiations are also under way in Fort Good Hope and Colville Lake. Negotiations are also well advanced toward concluding an Inuvialuit final self-government agreement. I am also happy to report the self-government negotiations...