Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, the Mackenzie Valley Highway, as I said in my Member's statement yesterday, has been suspended by the federal government while they consider new infrastructure programs. So we're waiting to hear on the details on the infrastructure programs, hopefully when the federal budget comes out here in the next month or so, but there's a significant amount of work that is still going on with the highway. Our environmental assessment has started for the Wrigley to Norman Wells' section. Community consultations have been undertaken by the Review Board and the terms of...

ITI has, right off the bat, the tourism diversification marketing program. This is available to provide funding to the operators to do research, identify market needs, and develop products, as well as promote new markets in the tourism industry. We also have upped our staff resources in the North Slave region to address the licensing issues and increasing park maintenance because of more pressure of using these facilities. We also have staffing under way for a new tourist development officer starting in 2017-18.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Transportation has made a commitment in its mandate to restore safe operating conditions in the Port of Hay River by strengthening connections with public and private sectors partners.

The Hay River Harbour remains an essential piece of infrastructure for the NWT marine transportation system. The harbour supports critical services such as those provided by the Canadian Coast Guard and the Department of Defence. As well, industry and communities up and down the river depend on the steady and reliable resupply of essential goods and materials shipped out of Hay...

As I previously said, the department has programs in place to do maintenance and replacement of the ferries. We want to make sure that everything is safe and efficient and operating going forward, of course. In the long term, all ferries could be replaced by permanent bridges, which the Member also alluded to in his statement today. This would require significant investment from this government to do that.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Follow-up Letter to Oral Question 343-18(2): Small Business Funding Supports." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This is one of the things that was identified in the NWT Economic Strategy when they went around in the last Assembly, and it was identified as an issue. The insurance program was put in place in 2014 through NWT Tourism that leverages buying power of its membership, so they all tend to buy as a cooperative, I believe, and that's still in place. This year ITI is also supporting NWT operators with a number of workshops and initiatives that promote risk management and training safety for the tourism operators, and we are making safety plans as part of our application for tourism licences which...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last year ITI invested over $5 million in direct grants and contributions to tourism-related business and initiatives in the NWT. Funding is available to qualified businesses under a number of programs, one of them being the Community Tourism Coordinator program, this one we've just announced that helps communities advance regional product development and packaging. We fund specific marketing arrangements with the NWT Tourism, which helps all the members of NWT Tourism and it allows the regions to market and promote products in their regions and operations. We're always...

Mr. Speaker, investments in our transportation system are critical for creating economic and social opportunities for Northerners. The Department of Transportation’s commitment to securing federal funding to advance the Mackenzie Valley Highway under the mandate of the 18th Legislative Assembly is intended to capture these kinds of opportunities.

We are already seeing the benefits of road construction in the Beaufort Delta, where the northernmost section of the Mackenzie Valley Highway, the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway, is nearly completed. Improved access and significant training and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not quite clear what the Member's referring to as bringing in southern companies for tourism, but I do know that as a government as a whole we put a lot of emphasis on using NWT products and services and we follow our BIP policy and all that as much as we can to offer services. In the Department of ITI we have a Tourism Mentorship program, and maybe that's what the Member's referring to where operators can access this program. It's done through the Canadian Executive Service Organization, and they will match up any potential operators with a mentor and they will...

Yes, we can get that stuff together for the Member, as tourism is wide and broad in the Northwest Territories and each region is represented in different capacities. So we can pull that stuff together for the Member.