David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Member is correct; fur prices have come off somewhat, but the Northwest Territories still is considered one of the best wild furs in the world. When the Premier and I were in China recently, we had five new buyers that wanted to purchase NWT fur and become buyers at the auction in Helsinki that’s coming up. So we have to continue marketing the fur and the opportunity that our fur provides us. The fact that the money that gets to the trapper is money that goes into the local economy at the community level, and I don’t think we can underestimate what the support that...

Mr. Speaker, the tourism industry offers opportunities for economic development throughout all regions of the Northwest Territories, and federal funding can support this growing and vibrant industry.

On February 9th, along with myself and Mr. Don Morin, chair of Northwest Territories Tourism, the federal Minister responsible for the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, announced a contribution of approximately $2.8 million to support tourism development in the Northwest Territories. The contribution includes just over $1.4 million for tourism projects...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe that it is out for tender currently and that’s the current status of the facility. Thank you.

I don’t have the level of detail the Member has requested. I’ve made an assurance to him that I will get him that level of detail. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the Member for his remarks as well. We had $100,000 through SEED, the SEED program last year. The $100,000 you see this year is specific to the new program that we have, the Film Rebate Program that we have this year. We’re hopeful that we are going to see, given the fact that the Canadian dollar is down and the cost of fuel is down as well, is going to be a contributing factor in us trying to get some more people here doing location filming here in the Northwest Territories. So things are looking up in that regard and we’re hopeful that this new program is...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Our hope is to have more than one established and the funding we have here, I guess, would be a nominal amount. Our hope is that we can get more than one up and running and be successful. So in future years you could see a bigger line item.

As we’ve mentioned, we have had trouble in the past, but we’re hopeful with the proponents we have now to find one we can work with and maybe even two. I think if we have more than one, that’s a good problem to have. We may have to adjust, depending on the success of the discussions we have with the people that expressed interest in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There has been no government funding that’s gone into this. We have recouped close to $2 million in the sale of the two buildings on Archibald Street and it has taken some time, but our hope is that those factories will be running in the very near future. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the Member for his kind comments. I appreciate that and I know our staff appreciates his comments as well.

We have to continue to work on all sectors and it’s very unfortunate what’s happened in the past six months with the collapse in oil prices globally. It’s really had an impact on the Member’s riding, so that’s why, again, it’s important that we look at all sectors, not just oil and gas but mining, tourism, our support to business. We have to continue to work with other departments. The traditional economy is very important, trapping and training efforts...

Thank you. I do see an opportunity here as well. As I mentioned earlier, we have GSOs out there. We should be working with our GSOs. Also court workers, and I know the Member has brought up the LHOs. So we will communicate and try to collaborate with the Housing Corporation to see how we can continue to work together on trying to get that information out. So I thank the Member for the question. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the best of my knowledge they are still trying to work with the community of Tsiigehtchic to identify accommodations so that the members can overnight in the community of Tsiigehtchic up to eight nights a month, but they have to first identify suitable accommodation in the community and they’re working with the community to do that.