David Ramsay

Certainly, everybody was paying close attention to the weather conditions and the fact that there’s a lot of heavy equipment moving on the winter road in the Sahtu and down the Mackenzie Valley. Nothing says we need an all-weather road more than the activity that’s happening there. There were a couple of unfortunate incidents. The Department of Transportation has put a lot of time and effort into clearing those up, those situations up. We’ve taken some measures to get more highway patrol officers out there to ensure that equipment is moving in a coordinated fashion. We’re working with industry...

Certainly, the word prolific comes to mind when you look at a play like the Bakken and the Eagle Ford in Texas, and what they’ve done to the economy in a place like North Dakota. Certainly, we could use that type of economic activity here in the Northwest Territories. Again, it’s activity that’s going to carry itself on for generations.

We continue to see and work with industry, see what industry is up to. We’ve had readiness sessions in the Sahtu. We’ve met with industry at any and every opportunity that I get as Minister. I know I’m the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, but I’m...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Ms. Jenni Bruce, the chair of the Northwest Territories Tourism, as well as Brian Desjardins, the executive director at NWT Tourism, Mr. Ron Ostrom, the marketing director at NWT Tourism, and former colleague Mr. David Krutko from the Mackenzie Delta, and also a constituent of mine, a board of trustee with YK1, Ms. Mira Hall.

First, with the Inuvik-Tuk highway, we are going to, hopefully, be working toward a funding arrangement with the federal government here in the very near future.

Secondly, on the Mackenzie Valley Highway, we thanked all the federal Ministers that we met with for their involvement with the help we’ve gotten from CanNor to continue the work on the Mackenzie Valley Highway. I mentioned earlier we had just recently got another $600,000 through CanNor to allow us to work with communities up and down the Mackenzie Valley to continue that momentum on the Mackenzie Valley all-weather road.

On the port...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That question was raised with Minister Lebel when we had the meeting with him and it wasn’t confirmed nor denied whether they would be willing to look at 75/25. Our belief is that that will be the case. He didn’t say otherwise, so we’re going on that premise that it will be 75/25.

ITI certainly was working with the other departments. When you look at this year’s budget you’ll see a number of items in there specific to the Sahtu. That is a direct result of what is happening in the Sahtu.

The government has had to react and take action. Working with the other departments, we’ve identified areas where we need to be looking at putting more resources. We have done that.

I believe this is still relatively early days in the development of the Canol shale oil play. Those wells will be tested. If they have a commercial rate flow and get into production, that will change many...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member. That was a good statement that he had earlier.

Certainly, we need to be looking at what is happening in the Sahtu. I know I answered a number of questions today from Mr. Yakeleya regarding what is happening in the Sahtu. We need to look at opportunities. I mentioned to Mr. Yakeleya about the Economic Opportunities Strategy that is underway. I think it’s a good opportunity to put the concerns of the region of Nahendeh and the Sahtu on the table and see what we can do.

I know with Voisey’s Bay, I believe, it was after the mine was developed at Voisey’s...

Mr. Speaker, I spoke earlier of the Diamond Policy Framework that the last government brought in, one that I pushed very hard to see happen. If the Regular Members want the government to take another look at the Diamond Policy Framework, I would be more than happy to work with the chair of the EDI and the EDI committee to see that through.

Certainly, from where I stand, the previous government did a lot of work in this area. The Diamond Policy Framework is there and it states quite clearly what we need to do and how we are to go about seeking that investment, and that’s exactly what we’re doing...

This government is taking its direction from the Diamond Policy Framework, which the last government brought into place in 2010 under the Premier in his capacity as the former Minister of ITI. I remember quite clearly pushing the last government quite hard to get that policy framework in place, which would establish rules of engagement for the government going forward.

Quite clearly, that Diamond Policy Framework states that the government will seek investment in a secondary diamond industry. Gone are the days when government would put taxpayers’ dollars at risk in the development of a...

I thank the Member for bringing that to our attention, and I’ll certainly have the diamond policy folks at ITI act on that immediately. Thank you.