David Ramsay

Yes, Mr. Speaker.

I take very seriously the concerns related to parks and tourism. I spent a number of years as a parks officer in the North Slave region. I’m well aware of the condition and deteriorating conditions in some of our parks and the fact that when it comes to maintenance dollars and capital dollars, parks, because of the competing interests for those capital dollars, are usually one of the last things that gets put on the table. I think we really need to do parks a service and try to identify capital dollars in a meaningful way going forward that are going to have an impact on our parks and the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am happy today to update my colleagues on the huge increases in pelt prices seen at the first wild fur auction of the year.

However, I would first like to take a moment to recognize the loss of a respected elder, wise teacher and talented trapper, Mr. Aà Harry Pierre Mantla. Even at the age of 71, Aà was one of the most active trappers in the North Slave region and could be regularly counted on for 200 marten pelts a year. We would like to offer our sincere condolences to the Mantla family. His contribution to the fur industry will be missed.

The first wild fur sale of...

Certainly, we have a number of sectors when it comes to our tourism that we have here in the Northwest Territories. When I spoke of statistics, we keep track of all the different sectors, whether it’s aurora viewing, fishing, hunting, general touring, outdoor adventure and things of that nature. We do have adequate statistics, which again, as we move forward with a marketing initiative like the Spectacular NWT, we will be able to two or three years down the road see where marketing initiatives like that may or may not have had an impact.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, it is.

I gave the Member a commitment to get him an update on the status of the plan for Prelude Lake and I’d be more than happy to get the Member a status of the involvement of the Yellowknives Dene in those discussions.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was my understanding that this comprehensive management plan was started and I would be more than happy to advise the Member of the status of that plan as soon as I find out.

This is a very important point to make here. I think some of the recent changes that we have seen with BIP is how those design-build RFPs are evaluated. I share the Member’s concern, that oftentimes the local subcontractors don’t get the work and the work goes someplace else. I think we’ve done a great deal of work, working with the Construction Association here in the Northwest Territories and other stakeholders, to ensure that we come up with an evaluation criteria that is going to allow the maximum extent possible of local and northern content so that those dollars stay in the North and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s a very specific question and I would suppose that training of staff at the departmental level would take place through the deputy ministers’ committees, I would suppose, and that information would filter down to the departments. There undoubtedly are training sessions that are conducted by the BIP folks at ITI with the various departments. That’s how I would see the training of departmental staff taking place. I can get a further detailed response for the Member, if he wishes. Thank you.

Before I was elected to the House in 2003, I worked for some time as a tourism development officer in the North Slave region. That is the role and the function of tourism development officers. I would suggest that businesses that are interested in getting into tourism and developing tourism product in the Deh Cho and the South Slave and my colleague’s riding would get in touch with the department officials in the region and work through how it is that we can help them get into business to provide further tourism products here in the Northwest Territories and specifically in the Member’s riding...