Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Any pre-sold packages at any of the tourism operators that have already sold will not have an effect with this fee. Once this is passed through the House we want to start July 1st, but anything that has actually been pre-sold before that is at a later date will not be affected by this. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Speaker, investments in the NWT film sector are growing the strength and diversity of our economy while promoting the unique sights, sounds, and stories of our territory worldwide.

We have made the commitment to support the film industry through investments in skill development, infrastructure, marketing, and communications. We are fulfilling this commitment through the work of the NWT Film Commission and its ongoing implementation of our government's film strategy.

Today, I would like to celebrate some of the successes achieved through our continued work and investment in this area.

I begin...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, they will be. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I said, our focus was very limited. We didn't want to go down there with a number advanced. We've concentrated on energy and highway corridors when we were down there. As I have said, the mandate of the 18th Legislative Assembly has the three corridors outlined and our mandate is our priority. We will continue to focus on that. We'll see what the Federal Government comes out with their budget here on March 22nd. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As anyone who knows anyone who has driven this stretch of highway in the last few years know, it’s a very challenging section of highway in the Northwest Territories; probably one of the most challenging. Due to the permafrost degradation and stuff that’s happening out there and the melting and disturbances that are happening on that section of highway, the department had to reach out to the federal government a number of years ago to get some research dollars to have a look at this and develop a program and have test sections on this highway. I think we have four...

The P3 concept is probably a little more challenging one. I commit to the Member that we could sit down with Finance and figure out a way moving forward, but as all Members know in this House, with federal treasury money, there’s a different set of rules on procurement around that and we’re going to have to probably sit down not with just myself and the Finance Minister but with the federal government if there’s a way forward to implement this into a possibility with P3 projects.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As all Members know, we are mandated in the 18th Legislative Assembly to do this. We spoke about this in the House before. This is something that is very important to me, as I came from the manufacturing sector. The department is doing a bunch of preliminary work on how we are going to bring this strategy forward, and when the time comes, I will inform the House when the strategy will be implemented. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I have announced earlier in the House, during this session, all the tourism programs that we have. We have the regional development workshops that we have had in different regions. We just recently had one in the Deh Cho, which pulled a bunch of stakeholders together from the Members’ riding. It was well attended by all Aboriginal governments and groups from the region. We do have an economic development person in every region, to help facilitate tourism. We can sit down and have a look at how we are going to do that. There are a number of different opportunities, different pots of money from...

I thank the Member for this question because as the proposed Revolving Fund moving forward this would allow us the opportunity under that to have this type of decision come forward and have the airport open 24 hours.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Minister, I am not well aware that they have an application in to develop that tourism camp. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.