David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following four documents, entitled “Northwest Territories Economic Opportunities Strategy: Connecting Business and Communities to Economic Development Opportunities – Progress Report 2014-2015;” “Northwest Territories Mineral Development Strategy Implementation: Progress Report April 1, 2014 – March 31, 2015;” “Towards a Northwest Territories Agricultural Strategy – What we Learned;” and “Follow-up Letter for OQ 881-17(5): Support for Regional Tourism Centres.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I do know and I am aware that the RCMP do provide transport and do that type of work. I’ve seen it myself as well. I will go back to the department, as I mentioned in response to a previous question, and get some further detail on this.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To my knowledge, it’s corrections services that transports people back and forth between the facility and the courthouse. I can look into this matter further for the Member and get some further detail, but to my knowledge, it’s corrections services that provides that service and not the RCMP. Thank you.

Again, the secondary industry is in a bit of a downturn. The economics aren’t very good. Factories are closing around the world. We sold the two factory buildings on Archibald Street a year and a half ago and we continue to hope that at some point in time those factories do open, but right now we don’t have people banging our door down to get into this business. We’ve also got revenue from leases on those buildings.

Again, the purchase price of those buildings was somewhere near $2 million that the government was able to recoup.

Again, our hope is that at some point in time those buildings are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The secondary industry and the benefaction when it comes to diamonds around the world has been hit very hard. There have been factories closing in locations like Namibia, Vietnam and even in India, lower cost environments. So the economics right now aren’t, obviously, the best.

The issue the Member talks about is a private business matter and really we shouldn’t be discussing that on the floor of this House. Thank you.

The numbers I spoke of earlier, I think a direct correlation can be drawn with the fact that this government, and with the support of that side of the House, supported the increased efforts in marketing our tourism industry here in the Northwest Territories, promoting the products that we have here, and I think the numbers we’re starting to see now are paying off. That investment is certainly paying off.

We shouldn’t kid ourselves, though. Out of the 13 jurisdictions in this country, the Northwest Territories ranks 12th in terms of what we put into marketing the tourism industry. We have seen...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for raising the concern about policing in Tsiigehtchic once again on the floor of the House today. The number of patrols that we saw into the community of Tsiigehtchic between January and July 2015 from the RCMP detachment in Fort McPherson were 37 patrols, and I want to thank the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation. We’re moving forward with plans to have an increased police presence in the community of Tsiigehtchic. We’re going to be sending officers in there to spend two days and one night a week, which means that for up to eight days per...

Because of the exploration and the little bit of drilling that happened in the Sahtu a couple of years ago, there are folks there that are trained. But the Member’s correct. I mean, we have to be ensuring that the young people are ready for the jobs that are coming, whether they’re in oil and gas or whether they’re in the mining sector. We continue to work closely with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. I know the Minister had a statement earlier, Skills 4 Success. We’ve got the Mine Training Society of the Northwest Territories, as well, and we have to do everything we can...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Great Slave, that Bill 64, An Act to Amend the Co-operative Associations Act, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve got a great idea of what’s in the Member’s riding in the Sahtu. Over the past four years, we’ve spent $8.5 million in funding in the region. We’ve got the greatest potential, of course, with oil and gas and the resource assessment that was done in the central Mackenzie Valley, indicating that there’s close to 200 billion barrels of oil and the benefits, and the development of that could mean potential business opportunities and employment opportunities for residents in the Sahtu.

We also had seen a great advance in agriculture in the Member’s riding. I know Mr...