Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chair, the committee today would like to finish the NWT Housing Corporation, and before we leave this Chamber today, finish Municipal and Community Affairs.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment today. I have received communication from the Minister. He advises me that he is aware of the economic downturn in Hay River and several different initiatives have been expedited. Things have been happening there. We need something that is going to have a large and long-lasting effect on the economy in Hay River.

We don’t have to think back very far to how many millions of dollars this government spent when we saw an opportunity for economy from the secondary diamond processing, when this government...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that we report progress.

---Carried

The name of the person who is on the ground in Hay River doing a lot of the presentations to the Chamber of Commerce, the Town Council and so on, is Randy Lewis. He has worked in the North for quite a number of years. I am going to ask the Minister if someone in his department, perhaps the deputy minister or someone at that level, could take the proactive move to contact Mr. Lewis and personally have ITI updated on where the Tamerlane project is at and what any of the obstacles are. We need our government not to become involved in industry, but if there’s any way we can smooth any of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Tamerlane Ventures Inc. is an exploration and development mining company with advanced base metal development projects in Canada and Peru. The company is working towards bringing the world-class lead-zinc Pine Point property back into production in the Northwest Territories.

The company’s primary focus is the Pine Point project consisting of the Pine Point mine, which was the largest and most profitable base metal mine in Canadian history. The Pine Point project hosts over five billion pounds of lead and zinc in the ground and Tamerlane Ventures believes it will once...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t get to do this very often but today I would like to recognize my granddaughter, Julianne Groenewegen, in the visitor’s gallery. I’d also like to recognize my very long-serving constituency assistant, Wendy Morgan, who is also in the visitor’s gallery today.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The first Canada Games was hosted in Quebec City in 1967 where 1,800 athletes came together to participate in sport. Today, as we speak, 2,700 competitors from 800 Canadian communities are taking part in 20 sporting events at the Canada Games in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Government of the Northwest Territories continues to encourage and support our athletes and volunteers who attend this event representing their home communities and the Northwest Territories.

In addition to being an unforgettable experience for our athletes, the Canada Games are an important component in...

Mr. Chairman, between the program in Fort Smith and in Hay River, the two larger communities in the South Slave, and with the South Slave Divisional Education Council, between the reductions to the two schools it’s a total of $428,000. Where is that money being re-profiled to? What’s the department doing with the money that they are not going to be putting into this program? Thank you.

That’s okay. I can ask the Minister these questions on the floor of the House tomorrow. They’re about the alternative schooling in Hay River. I can do it then, if we’re past that point in the budget. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The committee wishes to continue with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment main estimates.