David Ramsay

We have the Employment and Economic Development Subcommittee of Cabinet. Certainly, the discussion has started here. We have reached out to the mining companies who do work here in the Northwest Territories, to engage them preliminarily. We will have a working group as we go forward. We also want to hear from Regular Members. You will hear us talk, as a government, much more as an initiative to get these 2,000 people here over the next five years. We will reach out to Regular Members over the coming months to try to engage them and get their feedback on how they think we can deliver on that...

Thank you. Last summer the Government of the Northwest Territories hired over 300, I believe, summer students. We have had programs in the past and I believe they were partially funded through programs through the federal government, but I could get that level of detail for the Member. Thank you.

It would be through that campaign, and we do need to focus our efforts on that campaign, again, working with the operating mines here in the Northwest Territories and the fact that we are going to require a workforce if we are going to open seven to nine new mines in the next decade, we are going to need more of a workforce here. So it’s important that we continue to work with the mining industry on efforts to get people to live here in the Northwest Territories through the Cabinet committee of Employment and Economic Development chaired by Minister Miltenberger. We are begging, again, a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The development of the NWT Economic Opportunities Strategy was an important step in setting the stage for the pending devolution of responsibilities for lands and resources to the GNWT. It is through its implementation, in part, that the benefits of our new authorities can be realized in the form of jobs and business opportunities.

Putting the recommendations set forth in the strategy is key to its success. I am happy to advise Members today that the partnership established to develop and author the NWT Economic Opportunities Strategy will continue to serve as its...

We have to get folks back here to the Northwest Territories. Certainly in travels even to a place like Vancouver where we launched Aurora Capital of the World campaign months ago, I ran into a couple of young people who had left the Northwest Territories and were working in Vancouver. We need to try to get these young folks back to the Northwest Territories. I think all Members can help in that effort. If you know of young people in the South and try to connect them to opportunities here in the Northwest Territories, that’s something all of us should be doing.

Also, work continues on getting...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Similar to my response to Mrs. Groenewegen earlier, the government has the Come Make Your Mark Campaign. We work with over 60 organizations and businesses around the Northwest Territories in an effort to attract people to live and work in the Northwest Territories.

I mentioned this previously, and I’ll mention it again, we are only going to get somewhere if we continue to partner with industry, to partner with communities, to see to it that we put our best effort to attract folks to live and work in the Northwest Territories. We believe we are on the verge of some very...

Workforce development falls under the mandate of Education, Culture and Employment, and certainly the Member is right. I think going forward it’s incumbent upon the government to work together, all the departments, all the Ministers and this government to come up with a game plan. I’ve heard many Members talk about our young folks that are out at school and trying to get them back here to the Northwest Territories and not lose them to opportunities in the South. That’s something that’s very important to me and I know it’s important to the government. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories has the Come Make Your Mark Campaign and I know the Member spoke of working in partnership with industry and businesses across the Northwest Territories and that’s integral, and thus attracting 2,000 people here over the next five years is something that we have to continue to do. Through the Come Make Your Mark Campaign, we had partnered with over 60 businesses and organizations around the Northwest Territories in our efforts to promote the Northwest Territories as a place to live and work and we will continue to focus our...

Mr. Speaker, with its guaranteed advances, prime fur bonus and grubstake, the GNWT’s Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur Program is the envy of the Canadian trapping industry. The returns of this small but dynamic made-in-the-NWT program to our trapping industry continue to impress.

The Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur Program provides NWT trappers with one-window access to the international fur auction market. It works with the Fur Harvesters Auction to promote wild NWT fur, while educating and training resident trappers to maximize their returns with best practices for trapping and pelt preparation.

The...

We’re going to take a real good run at revitalizing the fishery on Great Slave Lake in the coming years and we have some money set aside through EOS to let us accomplish that and we are also very much interested in getting other products and fish around the territory into the domestic market. We have a number of programs run through ITI totalling about $225,000 on an annual basis, so the programs that we do have available to community members and people that want to pursue fishing and pursue getting their product into the domestic market here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.