David Ramsay

Thank you, Madam Chair. As others have alluded to, we have debated this previously. It is back here again for debate. Today, I just want to start off with saying I do have a great deal of respect for both Members that have brought forward this motion, the Member for Tu Nedhe, the Member for Monfwi as well as the Member for Weledeh. This is a difficult situation to be in. Any time we look at adding seats to this Legislative Assembly, we run into some firm opposition. There are some out there that think adding seats, whether they are outside of Yellowknife or in Yellowknife, is a good thing...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. All the government can do and the department can do today is continue to work with the Sahtu Secretariat and the federal government in ensuring that eventually that park is developed. There are some concerns, of course, from a health and safety perspective with some of the sites that need to be remediated along that route. Also, Mr. Speaker, the federal government wants to retain control over that entire 222-mile trail. So they have a plan to remediate and they also have a plan to monitor after remediating. Our intention is that that land will eventually be transferred...

Thank you. Again, we table, on an annual basis, the grants and contributions report. Again, if the Member has any specific concerns, please bring them to my attention and we will follow them up. Thank you.

Thank you. On an annual basis we table the grants and contributions report detailing the program dollars that we do get out there. Program dollars are delivered on a regional basis and we’ve got lots of examples of how that money is being put to good use here in the Northwest Territories. We’re developing an agricultural industry here in the NWT, we signed a new agreement with the federal government last year and we’re moving forward in a very positive manner. We’re also going to be developing an agricultural strategy and a firm, solid policy base for agriculture here in the NWT. I certainly...

Signage, of course, is important. Again, it would be in the department’s best interest to talk to the Member, talk to the people who have travelled the trail to find out where the best locations are for signage. I thank the Member for his offer and I’ll ensure the staff in the region get a chance to sit down with those who hike the trail and talk about where we can put the signage. We’ve had some capital dollars last year and we have more capital dollars earmarked for the area this coming year, so we may be able to look at some signage for the park. Thank you.

Capital money for parks is scarce. We just had over $2 million for small capital projects at our parks across the Northwest Territories. Last year we had $50,000 for Doi T’oh and also this year we’re looking at a further investment of $150,000. We’re looking at a cable crossing at Twitya River. That is a treacherous river crossing, as the Member knows. So we’re looking at putting that investment into the area as well.

We need to find further investments as we move along and get that land transferred so we can continue to look at positive developments at that park. Thank you.

Thank you. We do have professional staff across the Northwest Territories that does follow-up with folks that access dollars through those programs. If the Member has a specific concern over a specific application, or funding that went somewhere and wasn’t followed up on, again, I’d be more than happy to sit down with the Member or hear his concerns about a specific application and we can follow that up. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not familiar with the suggestion that somebody was using program dollars for a vacation. If the Member wants to give me some details, I’m certainly more than happy to look into that. Thank you.

It’s in our best interest to utilize the information. I know the Member has been out there many years with the youth from the Northwest Territories walking the Canol Trial. It is very useful information that he has and the youth who have that have traversed the trail over the years. If there is an opportunity to sit down with the most recent participants on the Canol hike from last summer or this coming summer and look at areas where they believe we could put some infrastructure, we could make the park better for people who are travelling in the park, that’s certainly an area where our staff...

If there are changes that we could look at that would have an immediate impact – and I know the Member is very much interested in beginning to plant seeds here – we will take a look at that. I can give the Member every assurance that we will look into this matter and if we need to adjust the policy to allow funding applications to be approved, we will do just that. Thank you.