Daniel McNeely

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My two questions here are, in the spirit of time, to the Minister of ITI in regards to furthering my Member's statement on Destination Deline. Will the Minister commit to having the regional staff sponsor and facilitate a hospitality workshop in Deline? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Clerk, orders of the day.

It could be viewed, Mr. Chair, as a dormant industry, but, given some of the previous statements and efforts I made here, we can look at the pipeline oil industry program repair for Enbridge Line 21 in Fort Simpson. Now, I feel that we're probably going to see, after the permitting process is done and the procurement, an injection of $53 million into that region, which I think is a significant amount and should be implemented towards further leakage of the lines so we can create some commerce. So it's certainly an industry that is kind of tabled at the moment, but beyond our means. I think...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks for the reply there. I look forward to, as we move forward, progress reports from the department or briefings on the progress that is being made for program delivery. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad to hear the Minister included cabin maintenance. I'm hoping that will include the shelters for the future highway. My last question here, Mr. Speaker: this government has a mandate to expand tourism options, specifically by building new parks, such as the Dodo Toi Canyon Park. Can the Minister provide an update on work being done to develop the Dodo Canyon Territorial Park? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks to the Minister for the reply. The 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang were broadcasted around the world, and I was pleased to see TV commercials advertising the Northwest Territories as a tourist destination. I'd like to ask the Minister who developed and placed these commercials? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Destination Deline, the Deline Gotine Government Tourism Initiative. Mr. Speaker, 2018 is the year of Canada and China tourism relations. The Government of the Northwest Territories "Tourism 2020" is a strategic approach to increasing our readiness to this thriving industry.

Mr. Speaker, 100 million Chinese residents visit international destinations every year.

Mr. Speaker, Destination Deline is the true NWT tourism experience, designed to expand the pristine attractions of the NWT horizons from the community of Deline on the shores of Canada's last fresh water world-renowned trophy fish lake...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. If it came to oil and gas, and I didn't say anything, I wouldn't be doing my job. I'm glad there are physical allowances in the budget for this department to maintain, keep the interest there, keep the doors open. It can be the same concept as what our neighbour in the south said on the activities going on in Alberta, so they turned towards orphan wells as job creation and cleaning up old leases, so, having had some discussion with the department, they're concentrating on that, as well. I think the orphan well program they have, Well Watch, is well underway and in...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We had a lot of discussion last calendar year on a number of events that happened, and now we are discussing the physical budget for the coming year for this department.

I get the feeling, and if the Minister could confirm: is there an in-house program review being conducted to include, and I would encourage, I would say, three operational components to this review? One is rehabilitation programming delivery, reintegration program delivery, and looking at the staff of the department.

The staff could include a succession plan here. As the Minister will recall, we had a long...

That's a positive report and positive comments. My third question, Mr. Speaker: the tourism industry is certainly working at large centres like Yellowknife, but can the Minister tell me what the GNWT is doing to promote tourism in the regions like the Sahtu?