Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I made the comment regarding the employment rates in Fort Providence. My question is to the Minister of ITI.
In the Deh Cho riding – of course we are located in the southwestern part of the NWT – we pride ourselves on being located to the gateway to the North, gateway to Denendeh. The big thing that we come across when we drive the highway, of course, is the iconic Deh Cho Bridge. This government has invested millions of dollars, and we need to ensure that we begin at some moment in time to enjoy the benefits of the investments that we’ve made and at least enjoy the major infrastructure costs of the bridge.
So my question to the Minister of ITI is: What are some of the plans that the department is working on to try to capitalize on the Deh Cho Bridge as a major tourist attraction? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We had started out working with the community on plans for a community celebration for the Deh Cho Bridge. We hope to be involved in that ceremony this summer. We had talked to NWT Tourism about promoting the bridge in their literature, and we want to continue to work with the community of Fort Providence in advancing tourism initiatives in the area.
We believe that there is a lot of potential there with the bridge, and I’ve mentioned previously as a Regular Member and as Minister, it would be a good idea for us to work toward some type of bison interpretative centre close to the community of Fort Providence to take advantage of the new traffic that’s going to be coming across the Deh Cho Bridge. Thank you.
Following up on that, there are three other communities, including Enterprise, Hay River Reserve, Kakisa, and my riding. I want to get an indication from the Minister, what are some other ways the department is working to ensure we develop a capacity for promoting tourism? Also at the same time, there are some opportunities that some entrepreneurs are beginning to raise interest in, and I wanted to know how the department is planning to support capacity. Mahsi.
We are working very hard on an Economic Opportunities Strategy. We have been working toward that. We have to establish an action plan by this fall. I hear the Member. We have to tackle the high unemployment rates in some of our smaller communities. The communities in the Member’s riding are of particular concern.
We have lots of opportunity here if you look at forestry, tourism, agriculture, and we’ve also got, as the Member mentioned, Canadian Zinc mine. We’ve got the recent significant discovery by Lone Pine near Fort Liard.
So there are opportunities there, and we have to work in partnership with the communities in the Deh Cho region to advance those types of opportunities. We also have to work with Education, Culture and Employment on training opportunities for residents there to take advantage of the jobs that are coming. There are going to be opportunities.
When we were out at Prairie Creek Mine last summer with the Premier and a couple of other Ministers, we saw firsthand some of the young people from the communities in the riding working at Prairie Creek getting that type of training, and it was really nice to see. We need to see much more of that around the Territories to address the high unemployment rates in our small communities. Thank you.
I wanted to ask a question in terms of partnership and working with communities. I think it’s essential to ensure that lays the basis of the relationship, especially with communities that are basically categorized as have-nots. One of the recent initiatives that have come about is the initiative to establish a wood pellet plant in my riding. What kind of support capacity is the department undertaking to ensure that it does come to a successful reality and is one day operational? Mahsi.
We certainly look forward to the day where we can have a biomass facility in the Member’s riding. We are supportive of that happening. We’ve worked with the proponent there for, I believe, close to two years. We’re hopeful that at some point in time we will see that plant go ahead so that we can harvest some biomass in the Member’s region and other regions around the Northwest Territories and produce biomass here in the NWT. So we continue to work toward that.
At the end of the day, investment decisions will have to be made by the proponent. There are a number of agreements that the proponent would have to come up with with the various community groups. It is all about partnerships and building solid relationships. I think they’ve worked hard at doing that, and we’ve worked alongside them on trying to see this proposal come to fruition. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is encouraging to hear from the Minister that one of the steps that he begins to perhaps contemplate is an immediate step of an action plan to ensure that the Economic Development Strategy moves forward. I want to see if there could be assurances from the Minister that he’ll commit to ensure that some initiatives that are badly needed in the have-not communities, like the communities that I represent in the riding, will happen.
Would the Minister commit to ensure that the partnership will continue, especially with the wood pellet industry initiative that’s ongoing? Mahsi.
I give the Member and other Members the assurance that the Economic Opportunities Strategy is built on solid relationships and establishing those relationships and ensuring that the Northwest Territories economy is going to be one that is diversified.
We will have big projects and opportunities like we do in the Sahtu and perhaps on the offshore, but we can’t lose sight of the smaller things, the things that are more important, and that is small business, tourism, agriculture, forestry, and fishing. Those I think will be key as we move the Economic Opportunities Strategy forward because those smaller things have much more opportunity to get people employed in the smaller communities.
At ITI we continue to support the traditional economy. We think there’s a future in trapping. We support programs like Take a Kid Trapping and the Harvesters Assistance Program, and we continue to do that. Fur continues to fetch high prices at market, and that’s money and jobs that get right back into the smaller communities here in the NWT. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
