David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize all the visitors that we have in the gallery today. Specifically, I’d like to recognize a constituent of mine, Ms. Deborah Ross, and all of her hard work she puts into the United Way, as well as Mr. David Connelly, Mr. Craig Yeo, and the chairperson, Ms. Tracy St. Denis. Welcome to the House and thank you very much for, again, all the hard work you put into the United Way. I also want to recognize the gentleman from the Reach Group. Welcome to the House, also, to my friend Rick Groenewegen from Hay River.

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to salute the members of our local film and television industry. This industry is built on the dedicated efforts of businesses and individuals in the NWT who are committed to telling our stories to the world and contribute nearly $10 million to the NWT’s Gross Domestic Product annually.

In order to strengthen the economic viability of the Northwest Territories’ film and media arts industry and increase opportunities for investment, we need a comprehensive plan.

Mr. Speaker, later today I will be tabling a new strategy, titled “Take One: Northwest Territories Film...

My ears are a little bit plugged. I’m not feeling the best, but I thank the Member for repeating the question.

We will continue to work with the region through the Fort Simpson office and also in Hay River on opportunities to promote the Deh Cho Connection. I know MLA Mr. Menicoche has talked about this in efforts to support Highway No. 7 and the tourism route that is the Deh Cho Connection. It is a wonderful opportunity for people to not go back the same way and do a loop through the Northwest Territories. It’s important that it is marketed and it is promoted, and through NWT Tourism that...

We have our Aboriginal Tourism Marketing Strategy that would certainly look to support efforts in the Member’s riding. We also have Tourism 2020, a new plan that we’ve come up with that is going to earmark money for tourism around the Northwest Territories. We’ve recently received money from CanNor. We also will be looking for additional federal funding as we move forward. Through the EOS, we’re also able to provide more money for tourism, and I think our overall spend on tourism now is near $10 million per year.

Community justice committees have been successful in the communities. Tomorrow, in fact, we have proponents who have expressed interested in the on-the-land program. They will be meeting here in Yellowknife tomorrow. So we’re hopeful that out of this meeting tomorrow we will arrive at a proponent that we can work with that we can see the program get up and running somewhere here in the Northwest Territories. So we are doing that, and we also are looking at mental health first aid for our staff in our facilities. We also have three psychologists on staff in our five facilities across the...

Thank you. Again, that’s a bit of a level of detail that I don’t have here, but if they are ending up in our facilities, it’s incumbent upon us to have the programs and the services required to treat them when they’re in our facilities and after the OAG’s report, we do have some work to do in that area and I have given my commitment to the House and the Members that that work will continue and that we will have programs and services that are going to address the needs of the inmates that we have in our facilities. Thank you.

Undoubtedly, we do need baseline data, and that is data that will be sought. We are going to continue to move forward with the regulations here in the Northwest Territories. I have made a commitment to the Members that we are moving that forward. That is where that stands.

As far as research goes, we do know what’s happened here in the past. Of course, we’ve got our Devolution Agreement last April. We are now responsible for those regulations and managing the resource development in the territory. We, again, want to have the most robust, sound regulations when it comes to hydraulic fracturing...

Yes, we continue to be involved with the Sahtu partnership. I’ve supplied some information to the Member recently about the investment that the government has made in his riding. It is substantial. It covers a number of different departments. While the downturn in oil price has happened, I think now is the time to continue to move forward with the development of our strategy. It’s time to get training put in place for people in the Sahtu and around the Northwest Territories so that when the price does come back and the companies come back and the drilling continues, we will have jobs for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a return to oral question asked by Mr. Dolynny on March 4, 2015, regarding the Auditor General Report on Corrections in the NWT – Department of Justice.

This government is committed to supporting an environment of continuous improvement in the corrections service and throughout the GNWT. The annual performance audits conducted by the office of the Auditor General support this commitment and provide us with an opportunity to receive valuable feedback on our programs and services.

The office of the Auditor General conducts independent audits and studies that provide...

I don’t have the capital plan in front of me for this coming year but I believe there is some additional funding for facilities in the Member’s riding, and I can get him that information.