David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s a great pleasure I get to welcome to the Assembly here today Mr. Brian Desjardins, the executive director of NWT Tourism. Also, Ms. Jenni Bruce, the chair, and also with them is Mr. Ron Ostrom and Carlos Gonzalez. Welcome. As well, I’d like to welcome Mr. Tony Whitford, no stranger to this House and the former Member for Kam Lake. Welcome, Tony. And Ms. Lydia Bardak, city councillor. Thank you.

As we move toward all the activity that will take place in the Sahtu next winter, we will be working toward the business planning process this fall and certainly not just the two departments that I’m responsible for, but other departments. As things progress there and there is a need for more resources in programming or services or personnel, those are discussions that are going to need to take place and those will come through the business planning process in discussion with the Sahtu Secretariat and folks that are in the Sahtu. Those discussions will certainly play themselves out over the...

I’ve discussed this issue with both of my deputy ministers at ITI and at Transportation, and at the earliest opportunity I would like a chance to sit down with the Sahtu Explorers Group – that’s the group of companies that are doing work in the Sahtu – to explore opportunities to work together to advance transportation infrastructure, both winter road access and perhaps even all-season access into the Sahtu from Wrigley. Those discussions I look forward to having with the Sahtu Explorers Group as we move forward. Thank you.

We will get to the detail that the Member is talking about, but certainly the message from this government is that we support tourism. Again, it’s $10.4 million, and as we go forward I think it’s very important that we find more money to go into marketing initiatives.

We’ve had a great deal of success working with our neighbours, Nunavut and the Yukon, on a pan-territorial approach. I see that continuing as we go forward. We need to find other ways to market the Northwest Territories. I believe as revenues increase and opportunities present themselves, we should take advantage of those...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for the question. Certainly we heard the Finance Minister with his budget address earlier today, we’re trying to maintain what we have as a government. We’re spending $10.4 million on tourism and we do have the Tourism 2015 plan where we’ve got $1 million earmarked annually specific to some marketing initiatives and also Aboriginal tourism initiatives across the territory. We do need to look for ways as we go forward and our revenues do grow, look for opportunities to get some more money into marketing and product development here in the...

We’re still in the early days. There was a great deal of activity there last winter. There’s some activity there this summer and for the foreseeable future there will be a great deal of activity taking place in the Sahtu. There were two wells drilled there last year and there will be a number more proposed to be drilled this coming winter.

As the resource is better known and we get a better indication from industry and the residents in the Sahtu on what is there, I think then we really need to take stock of programs and services that we have on the ground in the Sahtu, and if there’s a need to...

The message moving forward is future highway contracts in the Yellowknife area are intended to be tendered.

I can assure the Member that I have had those discussions with both my deputy ministers both in Transportation and at ITI. For me we’re going to have to see how that fits into the government-wide initiative when it comes to decentralization and where our resources are based. We will get to that work.

In the Premier’s response to Mrs. Groenewegen, that work is going to start. We’re going to take a look at some of the decentralization and positions that may in fact find their way into the regional centres. Certainly in the case of the Sahtu, that would figure into that mix.

Again, it’s a process that has only just begun. As far as the timeline goes, I wouldn’t want to take a guess at that, but sooner rather than later.

Mr. Speaker, the negotiations will be concluded here shortly, but certainly the Det’on Cho proposal will include a wide variety of local and northern businesses that will help Det’on Cho as they work to construct the realignment of Highway No. 4. They also will need some support in the areas of administration and management and other areas, and we look forward to seeing a finalized negotiation with Det’on Cho that will include that wide array of northern businesses that will help Det’on Cho achieve the work that’s there.