Julie Green

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I would like to talk about the allocation to the petroleum resources division. I would like to know, of the seven staff who work there now, how many of them are specialists only within petroleum resources? Thank you.

Thank you, and for this particular example that the Minister used, can he correlate that to number of visitors in Fort Simpson and the amount of money that they spent? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I respect the Minister's answer on this, but I'm asking her to go further. I'm asking her to be a champion. She's already said she believes in the fact that our tap water is some of the best water in the world, so I'm wondering if she can use her authority to get as many GNWT public servants as possible to take the NWT "Love NWT Water" pledge and also to promote the message that bottled water is unnecessary, through Bear Facts and any other communication means she has at her disposal.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I think it is good practice to measure outcomes for grants and contributions, and so I'm not hearing that the Minister is interested in doing that and I'm puzzled by that. Can the Minister commit to doing a systematic evaluation of the outcomes of this program that goes beyond just the number of people who visited the NWT? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. I know that, in some of our government offices, even in the executive offices here at the Legislative Assembly, you still find bottled water coolers. At meetings in GNWT-sponsored events, bottled water is still being offered. If we believe in the quality of our municipal water supplies, we need to walk the talk. So in that vein, will the Minister take the lead in Cabinet and have bottled water removed from the executive offices in this building? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am not looking for a number of total visitors. I acknowledge that, in fact, they have gone up. Let's take the Tourism Product Diversification Program; what kind of evaluation happens annually on that program? Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to challenge all Members and all NWT citizens to take the Love NWT Water pledge and swear off bottled water for the coming year, and ideally, forever.

Love NWT Water is the promotional campaign recently launched by Ecology North, a northern environmental NGO, to encourage Northwest Territories residents to turn on their taps and stop buying bottled water.

According to Ecology North's research, 24 bottled water retailers sold more than 1.8 million liters of bottled water here in the NWT between 2014 and 2015. Those bottles are shipped from southern...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am looking at page 211. I see that there are a number of funds that seem to do similar things, for example, Tourism 2020 and Tourism Industry Contribution. Has there been any thought put into amalgamating these funds just for the sake of efficiency? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I remain concerned that this division is overstaffed vis-a-vis other priorities of the GNWT, and I would encourage the Minister, in the next budget cycle, to consider how these non-specialist positions could be redeployed to economic diversification portfolios. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, can the Minister confirm that the legislation is being developed inhouse from existing resources and not contracted out? Thank you.