Brendan Bell

I am pleased to come before Committee of the Whole to discuss Bill 7, Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act. This legislation has received an extensive public review. Literally hundreds of NWT residents participated in the standing committee's public review and prior to that in the department's consultations. I think that this level of interest reflects a concern shared by residents throughout the territory about the kind and level of illegal activities harming our communities. By listening to residents' concerns, we can develop solutions that truly address their needs.

The Standing...

Mr. Speaker, as I have said, we are going to consider it, but it will be moose first. We do understand that there is a fair bit of tanning of barren-land caribou hides already. It is much more prevalent, I believe, than moose. We have concerns about seeing moosehides left in the bush. We know that artisans are very interested in seeing traditionally-tanned moosehides. That is why we are starting there first. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I guess, as it is a pilot project, we are going to try it with moosehides first. We think that is where the demand is for some of our artisans. That is what we are hearing, at any rate. If we had success there, then we could look at other ways to ensure we have a constant supply of raw materials. But the pilot will start with moosehides. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we think we’re working out the final details. For instance, we think it can generate somewhere in the neighbourhood of 40 to 60 part-time jobs and a couple of permanent jobs in that community. It really can be an economic shot in the arm and I think it’s going to reinstate a lot of the pride that that community had, and probably still has, in its craft production. But we know that we need to work with that community to make this happen. So I say we’re close. I guess nothing is final until all the details are finalized, but I am optimistic that we will see this craft shop up...

Mr. Chairman, thank you. No, I don’t think it’s too much to ask if committee could see the detail of this proposed trip. I’m certainly prepared to provide that. I indicated earlier that this was really focused on businesspeople and primarily they are the folks that are travelling. For instance, NTCL is very interested in some Chinese manufacturing opportunities, transporting modules down from Tuk and through the Mackenzie to the oil sands. Aurora Village and Aurora World will be present; obviously interested in diversifying their aurora tourism business from just Japanese. A couple of...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. For the last several years, my department has been lobbying Chinese trade officials to try to build a program to go to China and open some doors for some of our businesspeople specifically in tourism and also some opportunities we see in transportation. But tourism, as we have seen with the aurora industry coming under additional pressure, Japanese numbers are falling off. We have been looking at a logical market to diversify to. All evidence points to China and its 1.3 billion people as being very prospective for us in terms of aurora tourism, but we are having...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to recognize Bob McLeod today who I think has lived in Yellowknife South since 1988. That makes him one of the original Yellowknife South constituents. The riding isn’t that old. Welcome to the gallery, Bob.

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Mr. Chairman, I could speak to a lot of this detail, but it’s probably easier if Members had this in front of them. So what I’ll do is make sure that you have copies of this information, you have the briefing note that I have in front of me, you can see who the meetings are with, who is on the list and we’ll make sure that happens in the next half an hour here. Thank you.

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Mr. Chair, I think the important thing to note here is that NTCL, Aurora Village, Aurora World, Watta Lake Lodge, Mackay Lake Lodge, and Arctic Chalet, these are businesses that have a lot of history here. They will be here in the next government. The Premier’s role is to open doors for these businesses and no slight to Mr. Handley, but what is more important is that it is the office of the Premier. That is the compelling issue here, not the person who is in that role. We have the ability to use our Premier and his office to open some very important doors. It can open up new markets to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have two documents for tabling. They are proposed amendments to the Maintenance Orders Enforcement Act, August 2007 and proposed amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act, August 2007. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.