Wally Schumann

Actually, earlier this year, our senior management hosted a meeting with Canadian Coast Guard and transportation officials and the Marine Training Society, as well, and we actually proposed that we have a serious look at some of the trades in the industry, and we're going to start having those discussions on moving that forward. MTS, as I said, has a number of positions there as well, and we'll be looking at opportunities for residents in the Northwest Territories to get some type of apprenticeships there as we identify them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I don't know the exact number, but what I can tell happened this year: MTS has identified six people for our operations, one for each tug, and I think two for Kakisa operating out of the harbour. Canadian Coast Guard has made six job offers to people who have graduated out of their class, and I think four have accepted to date.

Yes. We can postpone a lot of capital projects to do that. That is going to cost a lot of money. That is not something I am willing to do without an analysis of what this thing would even fathom what this would cost, never mind the permitting that would have to be obtained to do this type of thing. At this point, I am going to continue as the Minister of Infrastructure to work with my colleague in the federal government on this issue. I will update the House when I have a call with him in the coming weeks. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Member is making his point here. We've talked to different Ministers. Different Assemblies have talked to the federal government about this dredging issue in Hay River and the Port of Tuktoyaktuk. It's an ongoing issue. The federal government got out of this racket in about 2012. That was when they cancelled their program, and they left the jurisdictions hanging. Members and Ministers from that point forward have pushed this issue for a long time. We have in this Assembly, I myself particularly since I have become the Minister of Transportation and the Minister of Infrastructure, have been...

As I said, I do not know if the risk is worth the reward at this point, without some more research and analysis of what implications it would have on the industry. I would certainly like to have a look at it, but I would love to sit down with the Member and have a little better understanding and conversation with him of how he thinks we could implement this thing. Maybe we could even pull some of the people from this industry together and have a chat about what these things are going to look like going forward, as we renew our strategy in the 2020-2021 session. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I welcome the Member's enthusiasm, as well, for this industry. He was actually at the Dead North Festival with myself, and participated in the awards night. I'm always happy to have a discussion with all Members of this House about the importance of this industry, particularly the Member for Yellowknife North. As I said, he has a keen interest in this, as well.

As I said, this industry has grown significantly since the 18th Legislative Assembly, and we need to consider how much we invest in these projects and productions with NWT residents. With the review coming up, it's due in 2019-2020. We...

Mr. Speaker, this is tourism week in the Northwest Territories and is an opportunity to celebrate the unprecedented growth that we have nurtured and witnessed during our time as the 18th Legislative Assembly. During the life of this Legislative Assembly, visitor numbers in the Northwest Territories have increased by more than 30 percent. This includes a 61-percent increase in Aurora tourism. Our tourism sector is now worth over $203 million, a 48-percent increase in spending over the last five years, and led by a 75-percent growth in spending by leisure tourists, travellers.

As our government...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the documents entitled "2018 Socio-Economic Agreement Report." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Some of these courses that are offered at the Marine Training Centre are actually lifesaving stuff for the fishermen and these sorts of things, different skills that need to be set. Some of the courses that are going to be offered this coming season, because they've already expanded their mandate at the training centre, it's going to include a bridge watch rating program, a small vessel operator proficiency, and fishing master programs. These things are targeted towards NWT residents, of course, Indigenous people, and women. Myself and the Member from the Sahtu actually had the opportunity to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As of May 7th, we've had 98 people attend the training centre.