David Ramsay

We’re doing what we can and working with the other departments. PWS, Transportation and a number of other folks were involved in the meetings we had both in Hay River and here in Yellowknife. There is also now a Northern Manufacturing Association that’s going to be developed. They’re going to prove to be a single voice for manufacturers here in the Northwest Territories, and we believe that’s going to be a good conduit to working with government to ensure that products that are manufactured here in the Northwest Territories are purchased by our government here in the Northwest Territories...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We can improve the system by working with the manufacturers here in the Northwest Territories. I mentioned earlier, we were in Hay River recently, and just last week we had another meeting here in Yellowknife. We have to enable manufacturers to know what the process is to get items registered so that they can be included as items that are manufactured in the North, and we fully intend on continuing to work with manufacturers here in the Northwest Territories so that situations like the Member outlined for us earlier don’t happen again. Thank you.

The region has had a history of mining in the past. We certainly have favourable geology in the Member’s riding. If you get out into the mountains, again, near Selwyn Chihong and on the border near Tungsten and also further north, North American Tungsten has the MacTung Project as well. So there’s great opportunity there.

If the Member and the communities in the Sahtu would like us to look at having whether it’s a workshop or a program, I mentioned earlier the Mining 101 that we’ve put on in communities. We could try to ramp that up, and if there’s interest there in the Sahtu, we certainly...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the Member for the question. We have had some success in holding the Mining 101 course. We’ve had a number of these meetings in the Sahtu. Specifically, we’ve been in Fort Good Hope, Deline, Colville Lake, Tulita. We’ve also been to the community of Nahanni Butte and also into Norman Wells. We have to continue to promote mining as a means to economic success here in the Northwest Territories. In the Member’s riding we’ve had some success recently with Selwyn Chihong on the border with the Yukon. We’ve had discussions with those folks recently. That ore...

Mr. Speaker, the NWT is home to a small, but vibrant manufacturing sector. We manufacture a range of products in the Northwest Territories, from signs and steel girders, to roof trusses, windows and fibreglass tanks. As other industrial sectors such as mining, oil and gas, and construction expand, there are opportunities for expansion within the manufacturing sector.

Mr. Speaker, the NWT Economic Opportunities Strategy identified the potential for strengthening the economic viability of the manufacturing industry and increasing opportunities for investment in the NWT. Today I would like to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, that Bill 42, An Act to Amend the Residential Tenancies Act, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That would be at the highest level: assistant deputy minister, deputy minister. They would be the ones I would count on in ensuring we are following policy, that goods that are manufactured here in the Northwest Territories are on the list and that we are continuing to work with manufacturers here in the NWT. Thank you.

I want to thank the Member for his intervention in that, and I believe those are being manufactured in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

We have to look at the availability of time. I think we’ve got six or seven months left here in the life of this government. I’d certainly like to see something happen in the Sahtu, and if it doesn’t happen during the life of this government it’s something we could include in the transition.

Again, I want to thank the Member for his interest in this. I’m a big believer in what the potential is in the Sahtu, not just in oil and gas but also in mining. Certainly, we could look at having something like a conference or a workshop in the Sahtu at some point in time and I think that is a good idea...

Mine training would be through Education, Culture and Employment. But what I can say is, unequivocally, any company we’ve talked to is really interested in a northern workforce and finding community members who are interested in working on their projects, and that’s what we’ve heard from companies. So there’s a real willingness of behalf of the companies to employ local people. We’ve heard that from everybody we’ve talked to. So, trying to identify people at the community level that are interested in getting the training and then getting them the training so that when the jobs come they are...