Kevin O'Reilly

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize Tyler Dempsey. He's the assistant manager of the Northern Frontier Visitor Centre. Staff there are very helpful. They offer a fantastic service. I'm not sure if she's there or not. I think Tracy Therrien might be up there. I can't see her. She's the manager, and I want to salute and congratulate them on all the fantastic work that they do. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. In my Frame Lake riding lies the heart of tourism service in our capital. The Northern Frontier Visitors Centre is a physical presence and is an online and on-call resource for tourism. The centre is the heartbeat of tourism for Yellowknife.

Just look at the numbers. In 2016, 55,233 people visited the centre. This is a visitation increase of more than 400 per cent from 12,230 visits recorded in 2015. The centre mailed out information packages to 7,402 customers last year. Website visits totalled 155,000 hits. The airport gift shop run by the Northern Frontier...

Thanks to the Minister for that response. He confirms what I said in my statement, where there are a couple of different studies going on. I'm just wondering if the Minister can tell us, though, is there any funding in the 201718 capital or O and M budget with regard to additional assistance for the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre?

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. I apologize, I didn't give him much of a head's up, but he heard my Member's statement, so it's about the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre. I know he's been in there, he's seen the condition of the building. Based on the statistics that I mentioned earlier, would the Minister agree that the Northern Frontiers Visitors Centre is an indispensable facility for capital city tourism? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi to my colleagues.

Does the entire Visitors Centre -- is it unsalvageable and is a new facility required? A parallel study is also under way to evaluate and quantify the importance of the centre for Yellowknife tourism, economy, and scoping possible sources of funding for either renovation or replacement.

With numbers like the ones I've cited today, it's hard to imagine how any study could fail to establish that the centre is an essential piece of Yellowknife tourism infrastructure. I'm raising these accomplishments today to salute the contribution of the centre and its...

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the response from the Premier. I think we are getting somewhere now. I am glad to hear that he has assurances and he has said now in this House that any carbon pricing scheme is not going to affect our territorial formula funding. That is a good thing. I guess I am really wondering what the schedule, then, is and whether there is an intention to actually work with this side of the House in developing this carbon pricing scheme, because I haven't seen anything. I went to one of the consultation sessions. The Premier seems to think I am not even aware of them. I...

I appreciate the response from the Premier, but I guess the facts speak for themselves. He signed onto a news release that said he opposes a carbon pricing scheme, and then in December he signs onto a national agreement that says it's okay.

I guess I'd like to know precisely what is Cabinet doing to develop carbon tax for the Northwest Territories, or will we wait for Ottawa to impose something?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. On December 9, 2016, our Premier signed on to the Pan Canadian Framework on Climate Change. This is a good thing, but as usual, it was done with no consultation with Regular Members as to what the GNWT position should be. As recently as July 21, 2016, our Premier was part of a Yukon government news release, "Northern premiers confirm united stance against carbon price." Our Premier was quoted as saying, "A national carbon pricing strategy could not be viable in the Northwest Territories unless it alleviates or compensates for the high cost of living and doing business in...

I appreciate the answer from the Minister. Look, I recognize there's a lot of work that's being done on this issue by a number of departments, but if we haven't even actually started to contact the federal government  earlier today at noon we heard that it was the position of our government that there was some federal responsibility here, so what is going on? Is there some federal liability for these lands or not? If there is, can the Minister share with this side of the House, in a legal opinion or whatever, what basis do they believe that there is some federal responsibility?

Merci, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today, over the noon hour, we had the pleasure to hear from the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment about the purchase of the NTCL assets in Hay River and elsewhere on the Mackenzie River system. There were lots of issues raised about environmental liabilities, and I'm just wondering if the Minister of Lands could give us a few highlights of what the department is doing with regard to these environmental liabilities with the NTCL assets that we've now acquired? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.