Brendan Bell

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly we are having a lot of discussion internally in the department, but we do recognize the need to work very closely with our aboriginal government partners, with aboriginal development organizations. Obviously much of this activity will be grassroots driven. It’s not something that the government is interested nor should impose on regions. This should be to the comfort level of the individual communities and regions, but we want to work with them to help them understand and identify opportunities that there may be as we analyze world markets, because there...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is something that the Member and I and my department have been in some discussion about, not the specific position of a renewable resource economist, but more to the point of what we need to look at with renewable resources, work with communities to better understand where there are economic opportunities that are acceptable to the communities and economic opportunities that individual entrepreneurs would like to pursue. We do have business development people in the regions who can be actively engaged in this regard. It’s probably more appropriate than renewable...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Obviously with the passage of this supp, we will have the first start of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline office and I am expecting a lot of strategic advice from the joint committee in this regard as to how this office can be most effective and what kinds of activities it should carry out. Some of these activities are not entirely pipeline related. They have implications for the pipeline and will be involved. For instance, the Department of Finance is looking for an extra position to help us get a handle on statistics and do some baseline studies as they relate to...

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased today to announce the members of the Waste Reduction and Recovery Advisory Committee. They are:

Mr. Greg Rowe of Hay River Liquor Retailers & Tri R Recycling;

Mr. Ron Courtoreille of the NWT Liquor Commission;

Ms. Stephanie Sibbeston from Fort Simpson;

Mr. Bob Weaver of Territorial Beverages Ltd.;

Mr. Kevin O'Reilly of the NWT Association of Communities;

Mr. Raymond W. Masse of the Inuvik Recycling Society;

Mr. Jack Walker of Peterson and Auger Ltd.;

Ms. Katherine Silcock of the City of Yellowknife; and,

Mr. Joe Agrey of the NWT Motor Transportation...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am sure that if I get Cabinet support for a single agency, and I would indicate, Mr. Speaker, I still have to go forward to Cabinet with a proposal and receive an endorsement of that proposal prior to coming forward to committee, but if and when that happens, I am hoping that we can do something very quickly here. If and when that happens we will have, no doubt, a very good and I am sure heated exchange at the committee level about potential locations for a new agency. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would say that the individual tourism providers, I believe, are out at tourism shows. I know they will participate going forward and are out, as the Member indicates, with their sales books and trying to book tours for the upcoming season. My information, looking at the numbers from this past season, is that things are improving, if only slightly. We haven't seen the dramatic recovery that we were looking for, but I have spoken with two of the three operators who are involved in aurora visitation, and they are optimistic about the numbers and recognize that this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the Member is looking for the amount of money owed to the government, or the BCC specifically, from this company. I am unable, because of our legislation, to give the Member the number. The Member will remember we have had many past discussions about the need to balance the privacy and the protection of proprietary interest with the need for the public to know. This is a difficult balance. I think it is a discussion that we'll continue to have going forward. I look forward to that discussion, but without the agreement of the parties involved, I can't...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I assure the Member that I don't consider his questioning a running record. I understand that this is very important to his community. He has made that point abundantly clear to me and to the public, I believe. I also understand the urgency and understand the cultural implications here and the willingness to not be seen to be wasting any meat in the community. I appreciate that and respect that. Last night, after the discussion in the House, I asked the department to sit down and come up with a proposed solution to this. What we're prepared to do, Mr. Speaker, is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's difficult for me, without the Cabinet endorsement of said proposal, to theoretically discuss and indicate exactly what that will include. No doubt, it will include a range of options and a range of suggestions. We have had some discussion in the past about our legislation being as open as possible, as transparent as possible. I have no doubt that that discussion will take place again and we will have that committee. Certainly I will indicate to the Members on the other side of the House that I will take their recommendations in this regard very seriously. So...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I assure the Member we're not and I'm not potentially trying to withhold information from the Members. The Member is certainly right; within the life of the last assembly, at the end of the last assembly there was a legislative proposal and a bill drafted. There was insufficient time, unfortunately, for introduction and passage in the 14th Assembly. That does not mean that this discussion and this initiative about the need to better rationalize our resources in terms of how we deliver economic development programs and services is dead. We had the common ground...