David Ramsay

I think, working with the folks in Hay River, we could come up with a plan. I will commit to the Member today that I’ll go back to the department and discuss this option with them and, hopefully, we can formulate a plan on next steps when it comes to a dredging program for the port of Hay River.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue with dredging the port of Hay River is certainly a big issue. The port hasn’t been dredged in close to 20 years. The Member is correct; there is a lot of silt being built up there and the navigation channel is being blocked. We do have to find some substantial capital dollars, however, to have a dredging program there, that’s why it’s important that we continue the dialogue with the federal government in hopes that they will rekindle the dredging program that they ran prior to 1994.

Mr. Speaker, tourism is a vital industry here in the Northwest Territories. It is our largest renewable industry and attracted close to 70,000 visitors and over $100 million in new spending last year. Of all sectors, tourism presents the greatest likelihood of creating economic opportunities in each region, especially in the smaller communities.

Because of the importance and the potential of our tourism industry, it is critical that we develop effective plans to market the NWT’s outstanding range of tourism products.

Mr. Speaker, with that goal in mind, I am extremely pleased with NWT Tourism’s...

Mr. Speaker, I know that the mines do pay a northern allowance to employees, and certainly they would do the due diligence on their own employees to recognize whether or not they’re entitled to a northern allowance by where they live. So that would happen. As to whether or not we get in a third party, no, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, it is monitored. It is reported and tabled in this House. As to how they validate the numbers, I’d have to go back to the department and try to get a better understanding of exactly how they monitor and whether or not they follow each and every employee away from work and find out where they go and whether or not they have a NWT driver’s licence or health care card. That I’m not 100 percent sure of, but I will find out. Thank you.

We have invited Minister Lebel north. Hopefully, he has some time this summer to journey to the Northwest Territories. Failing that, we’re trying to line up some more meetings in Ottawa with Minister Lebel and other Ministers. Certainly, if we can make a plan here before next fall and the timing is right, if the Member would like to accompany me to a meeting to talk about dredging and a program to dredge the port of Hay River with Minister Lebel, we can certainly look at that. We do need millions and millions of dollars to accomplish this. It’s not something that’s in the financial means of...

All we have allotted in this year’s budget would be $60,000. It would cost $3 million or $4 million to take a good run at a program to start with in the port of Hay River. It’s something that currently is the responsibility of the federal government. Again, we need to continue that dialogue. I know we’ve met in the past with Minister Lebel, and more recently with the parliamentary secretary, Mr. Steven Fletcher. We have to continue to impress upon the federal government the importance of dredging here in the Northwest Territories and, specifically for the Member’s point today, the port of Hay...

Mr. Speaker, as I am aware, our highway patrol officers are equipped with the best in communication equipment, and are able to communicate with other enforcement agencies in the territory and emergency response personnel in the territory.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do know that the Government of the Northwest Territories has highway emergency learning protocols in place, and these describe responsibilities, by region, as to who will respond to emergencies on our highways, and these protocols are developed in partnership with our Department of Transportation, MACA, the Department of Justice and also Health and Social Services. As to the exact level of training of, say, a grader operator, they would certainly, I think, have different training than our highway patrol officers would have. But I could certainly get back to the Member...

As I mentioned, we have staff. They are multi-tasking on a number of economic initiatives here in the Northwest Territories. Certainly as things progress, and if we do have dedicated staff that are working in the area of agriculture on a day-to-day basis, it would certainly make sense for them to be located in Hay River.