Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The particular ferry, the Louis Cardinal ferry, is a short-trip, fresh water vessel. They tend to operate for many years. Right across the country, anything that is operating in fresh water tends to get 60-plus years of operation out of it. The other side of that vessel, though, is the mechanical side of it and the hull maintenance. Those things have a much shorter maintenance life, but we have a scheduled maintenance plan, when to undertake those required rehabilitations, and we continue to do so.

He asked another question. There were actually two questions in there...

I would have to get more details from the Member on what he is asking.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like I've said, we've already submitted the proposal to the federal government. It is on hold right now based on what they're going to do with their infrastructure needs. Hopefully the federal government addresses this project and many other projects that we've submitted under infrastructure for this territorial government in the federal budget coming out in the next couple of weeks. We have done pretty much everything we can do to advance this project until we hear back from them.

Like I said, we're working with ENR on preparing plans for management of caribou, we have...

First of all, the Canyon Creek access road that we just announced was initiated by the Sahtu region. This was brought forward a long time ago by the people of Sahtu and the Aboriginal governments. They spend a significant amount of time and energy on this project to advance it. It speaks to the benefits like the Member just stated of jobs and employment opportunities and training. Federal opportunities came along at the right time for this project and allowed this project to move forward, and it has.

If the Member's community of Wrigley and the Deh Cho wanted to have an interest in promoting a...

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.