David Ramsay

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...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The government is still very optimistic that the Mackenzie Gas Project will be constructed at some point in time. I have recently met with proponents of the gas project who share that optimism. At some point in time that gas project will see the light of day.

We continue to be optimistic that that will happen, but we also have to be cognizant of other opportunities that are presenting themselves in the territory. Of course, the resource play that is currently underway in the Sahtu is very important and very exciting and has the potential to turn the central Mackenzie...

I wasn’t aware that we were reducing the budgets in tourism. Over the past five years we’ve also come up with $5.6 million in the Tourism Product Diversification funding. Again, this year, in this budget there is $10.4 million earmarked for tourism.

Again, maybe the Member could just clarify where he believes the reductions are coming, because I haven’t seen any reductions and I don’t believe we’re reducing in any area in regard to tourism. Thank you.

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.

Certainly, through the Detah access road program that Det’on Cho was involved in, they have proven themselves. I believe this will just benefit Det’on Cho and the Yellowknives Dene tremendously, in that it will give their members more opportunities for employment, for education and for training their own people and advancing their capacity.

As I mentioned, with Giant Mine being on the very doorstep of Chief Drygeese territory, I think having the Giant Mine Liability Fund fund the work of the realignment of Highway No. 4, it’s the very least this government could do to help the Yellowknives Dene...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, it’s Highway No. 4, not 7, and secondly, Mr. Speaker, I know the Member, for having been a Member of this House for the past eight years, I would think that he would know the difference between a sole-sourced contract and a negotiated contract.

Mr. Speaker, if he’s going back in Hansard, I challenge him to find one example of where I stood up as a Member of this House and said one thing negative about a negotiated contract with an Aboriginal company in this territory. I challenge him to find that, Mr. Speaker.

Certainly going forward, Highway No. 7 is a red flag project. It is going to be a priority of this government to try to identify capital dollars to keep that highway maintained at a safe, safe clip.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly I’ve heard the Member on numerous occasions going back to the last session on the need to look at Highway No. 7. As I mentioned back then, and I’ll mention it again today, this government is going to require upwards of $200 million for a complete retrofit of that highway and that’s money that today we just don’t have. Going forward we are going to try to identify capital funds that will get us at least the money that we need on an annual basis to maintain that highway. I think the Member can look forward to that as we go into the next set of business plans...