Bob McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to recognize a Page from Yellowknife South, Rivka Peters, and also all the Pages who have been here for the past four weeks. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We will circulate the policy for naming of buildings. I know there are NGB buildings in other communities, as well, so we will make sure that information is available. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I kind of like that NGB name itself. Generally we respond to public interest, so if there is public interest to name the building, we have a government policy that focuses on two areas when it comes to naming of buildings. One aspect is how to set up a process that is fair and gives everybody who is interested in submitting a name an opportunity to do so. Also we have some criteria as to what types of names. For example, we are not going to name buildings after people who are alive. So that is the kind of criteria, but if there is any indication of public interest, we...

As the Member knows, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs deals with consumer protection, so we work closely with MACA but primarily in areas of licensing accommodations in communities. In the area of enforcement, we work much more closely with the Department of Infrastructure and the City of Yellowknife and even the RCMP. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This year, we have 151 tourism licence holders in the Northwest Territories. Last year, we had 147 tourism licence holders. Five years ago, we had 109 tourism licence holders.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to recognize a constituent of Yellowknife South, Gayla Thunstrom.

Mr. Speaker, our guiding principles for consensus government recognizes that a healthy tension between Cabinet and Regular Members is normal, Mr. Speaker. That is evident today. Our debates have not been without their disagreements.

As leaders, we will often be called upon to make difficult decisions; decisions where the path forward is not always clear. There are many priorities and many demands, many things that we want to do for our people. Managing the complex challenges and demands our government faces is a key part of every Minister's job, and there is not always going to be agreement...

I have been involved with the Department of ITI. In fact, I was the Minister, I think, for the first year of this government. We do not see this as a systemic problem, and I am not convinced that it is today. We are more interested in growing our industry and its capacity than we are in pursuing discipline, especially if there is apparently opportunity to turn it into growth. If we want to change this approach, it would require changes to the Tourism Act, and I would expect that it would have to be done in the next Assembly.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You cannot manage what you cannot count. Our licensing system allows us to know how many people are delivering tourism services, what they are, and what time of year their products are being delivered. It can help us measure growth, identify gaps, and guide our planning and investment. We also have legislation that determines which areas of tourism require licences.

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories is engaged in self-government negotiations with the Gwich'in and the Inuvialuit.

Inuvialuit self-government negotiations concluded an agreement in principle in 2015. Negotiations to conclude an Inuvialuit final self-government agreement are under way. Gwich'in self-government negotiations are presently set to restart following recent decisions by the Gwich'in on how they wish to move forward.

The Government of the Northwest Territories conditions to fulfill its obligations under both the Gwich'in Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement and the...