Hay River South

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 66)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. First of all, I want to make it quite clear, this is raising the cost of living by less than a tenth of 1 per cent, so it's very minimal. If I thought this was something that was going to raise the cost of living by 10 or 15 per cent in the Northwest Territories, this bill wouldn't be in front of the House.

Through the Member's comments that he just made around the Yellowknife Airport, the one thing I want to -- I agree with a number of things that he said in comments, some of them were very valid, but one of the things doing this revolving fund Bill 7 moving forward is it...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 66)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, as I said, we never did that analysis. AIF is lower for the outlying communities, and the price of tickets are higher. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 66)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We will wait.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 66)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will pass that on to the deputy minister, Mr. Neudorf. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 65)

We are always looking at ways of investing in the regions to promote tourism. I can sit down with the Member and have a conversation with him on what the community envisions in moving that forward, and seeing what program that we have within the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment will help fit the bill, to help them realize their dream of tourism there.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 65)

I believe it is very rare. It's unfortunate this incident happened, in this particular case, but I think it's very rare that there are people around the airport that late at night. Typically, I believe the department would probably be telling people if it was closing down, and then they would be making arrangements to get to a hotel or make other arrangements. It's an inopportune situation, but at present the airport is closed between 2:00 and 3:30 in the morning.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 65)

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories made a commitment in its mandate to support mineral exploration and the mining sector by implementing the Mineral Development Strategy.

I rise today to update my colleagues on our progress. Mr. Speaker, the Mineral Development Strategy has five pillars: creating a competitive edge; establishing a new regulatory environment; enhancing Aboriginal engagement and capacity; promoting sustainability; and enriching workforce development and public awareness.

In our work to create a competitive edge for mining in the NWT, we have placed incentives...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 65)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department hasn't taken a determination on this point yet. We are looking out for ideas and stuff. We are currently looking at other jurisdictions, as I have said, across Canada before we roll this out. We will probably be conducting a review and undertaking an analysis on a royalty regime across Canada.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 65)

The department is actually conducting research right now on how we are going to move forward. I don't think anything is locked down because we are going to have to go through consultation, public engagement. We are going to have to go in front of standing committee. There are a number of things that we are going to have to do that are going to guide this document as we move forward. We are welcome to any suggestions.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 65)

The department regularly evaluates the condition of the. We have our maintenance crews that travel up and down the highway daily to gather information daily. They give us feedback on that. We have, as I said, our test sections that are out there, but to get out for safety is the number one priority of the transportation system in the Northwest Territories. We use a number of initiatives to reach out to people in the Northwest Territories and people visiting NWT, as I think and believe the Member talked yesterday in the House about how we’re going to get our message out there, be it Twitter...