Bob McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Take a Kid Trapping Program has been one of our more successful programs. We work in partnership with a number of departments including MACA, ECE, ENR and ITI. By working together in partnership, we work in the best interests of the youth and it also allows them an opportunity to have a choice and option in determining which way they want to go. We think there are some significant advantages, because it allows them to develop self-esteem, it allows them to develop a good work ethic, and most importantly, it shows them the value of hard work and also the culture and...

Mr. Speaker, tourism brings over $100 million in new spending into our Territory each year. Today I will highlight the development of two key marketing activities that will strengthen the Northwest Territories tourism sector and attract even more visitors to enjoy this beautiful land we call home.

Supporting the tourism industry is one of the key activities the Government of the Northwest Territories is pursuing as part of its Maximizing Opportunities Strategic Initiative. Through these efforts, we continue to work towards the Assembly’s goal of diversifying our economy and supporting the...

We have a pan-northern tourism marketing approach with the other two territories. We’re targeting not only Edmonton but four other major Canadian cities so that we can get southern tourists to come and visit the North. We’ll be launching a promotional campaign both on TV and the print media. You may have seen some of the ads that have already been placed in southern papers. I should add, on top of that we are developing package tours that will emanate from Edmonton so that we will get visitors to come to Yellowknife and the Northwest Territories.

Thank you. Because we’re so close to Edmonton, we feel that we have our tourism bureau right here in Yellowknife operating out of Edmonton. But to be more specific, we do work very closely with the Edmonton market through NWT Tourism, and NWT Tourism has developed some very specific promotions with Edmonton as well as some generic promotions.

The specific promotions are we’ll be participating in the Edmonton RV Show this year as well as the Edmonton Boat and Sportsman Show. As part of that, we will be operating a fly-fishing pond and a movie screen, so that means we’ll have preferential...

Mr. Speaker, I recall that, in previous life, when I was involved with the Fur Institute of Canada, there had been a harvesting program or high school programs that were developed so that they could be incorporated into schools and I will follow up on that and follow up with the Minister to see if we could continue that work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We prepare an annual report of contracts over $5,000, and I would be quite pleased to present that report to the Member. Thank you.

I agree with the Member that projects like these are much needed in the Northwest Territories, and we’d be quite pleased to meet with Mr. Lewis and I’ll direct our senior officials to contact him immediately and set up a meeting with him.

The negotiated contract guidelines require that for every negotiated contract, the department issuing the negotiated contract is to file a report as to exactly the benefits the employment created, and that is filed with Cabinet. I will check for the Member to see if a list of negotiated contracts are put in a report and filed, and if they are, I will make sure that the Member gets a copy. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Executive is responsible for negotiating contract guidelines and for reporting on negotiated contracts.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re very pleased to hear that Tamerlane has received financing to go on to the next level, but more recently we haven’t been in any discussions. All the discussions we’ve had with Tamerlane have been before the economy took a downturn. At that time we were discussing the need for power and also other opportunities. Now that they have received financing, we’ll be quite prepared to go back and have the discussions with them.