David Ramsay

Thank you. I meant nothing by my comments. I was just trying to make a point that these are headquarters positions that we have decided to move outside of the capital to Inuvik. That’s a decision the department made and the government has made and one that we stand by. Thank you.

I know the Member and I have had this discussion before. It’s good to have it again. It certainly is something that we’re interested in and something we’re going to take into consideration in the development of the strategy and new policies as we go forward. It is important that we maximize any opportunity that we have to get people involved in the agricultural sector here in the territory. We will take that under consideration. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to the Member.

That’s correct, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

We’ve got to make a commitment to ensure that they try to stay in the Northwest Territories, as well, and I think that’s a goal that we should have. I will commit to continue to work with ECE on that. I think it’s a good idea and it’s something that I’d like to see move forward.

We have to look at the big picture. The big picture is we have had a great deal of success with film here in the Northwest Territories. I know the Member mentioned a new reality series; it is totally filmed and edited here in the Northwest Territories, the first reality show to have that all done here in the Northwest...

We want to make sure we get it right. That’s first and foremost. We want to ensure we get all the information to make an informed decision. To the Member’s question about whether there is funding in this year’s budget, no, there isn’t. Our early estimates indicate that to have that service at Fred Henne Park, it would run in the neighbourhood of $120,000 to $150,000. Thank you.

I appreciate the Member’s concern and I understand where he’s coming from. But again, from an operational perspective, it was important for our government to have a presence in the Mackenzie Delta, in the Beaufort-Delta, and putting these nine positions in the community of Inuvik made sense for us for the future.

Again, we are going to be negotiating a deal on the offshore. We have $2 billion in work commitments out there. We have a tremendous amount of potential, a resource that could rival the Gulf of Mexico in terms of oil and gas opportunities. Also, as I mentioned earlier, it’s home to the...

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, we could collect that data and get it to the Member. Thank you.