Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of ITI. Can the Minister commit to forming a direct focus group with NWT tourism operators to find out what supports are needed to sustain them during the time it will take for us to rebuild and reopen the territory?
Just a piece of information, Madam Speaker. According to the Northwest Territories tourism association, it may take two to five years to build our international reputation again. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I certainly agree that this is the tourism sector is has been one of the hardest sectors hit through COVID. It's one of the ones that's going to, sadly, be one of the last to fully rebound. And there's a lot of work that already happens between ITI and Northwest Territories Tourism Association as well as with the COVID Secretariat. I think there was a meeting even just last week, if I'm not mistaken, or within the last couple of weeks, Madam Speaker. So I don't want to create a situation for the tourism association either where they are tasked with more meetings.
I will commit to making sure we've reached out. If, in fact, a set organization or group will make a difference in terms of these conversations, then I'm very confident ITI's going to want to do that. I just want to make sure that that's something that's going to benefit them. We are engaged with them directly, and I'm pleased that the Member's going to speak more about this industry here today. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'm pleased to hear that from the Minister as well. I do encourage her to have that direct conversation with the operators themselves. As we all know, within one organization, certain voices can become much larger than others. So to get that feedback from the grassroots, I think is really key here.
Moving on, great seque to my next question, what is the criteria for reopening tourism for outofterritory residents? How is the department working with the office of the CPHO to set that criteria? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the office of the chief public health or the Office of the Chief Public Health Authority or office, that is the entity that is solely responsible for determining the risk factors under which the current restrictions are created, what they contain, and that is because we've always put our faith in the hands of medical science and not necessarily in politicians to be making those determinations. That said, Madam Speaker, we have continued to work closely, both myself and in both of my roles as Minister of Finance, Minister of ITI, do meet regularly with the Chief Public Health Officer, and as do the officials as well continue to meet, so that we are giving the right information to the Chief Public Health Officer so that she understands what the lay of the land is. And as such, Madam Speaker, I understand that, you know, certainly Emerge Stronger as you might recall had three criteria in it. The vaccination rates here in Canada, we've more than met. The case counts, unfortunately, with Delta Variant shot up, and so that criteria has not been met. But I know that the Chief Public Health Officer is now looking at whether a proof of vaccination system can bring us back to the hope that we all had of leisure travel opening much sooner than having to wait for the case counts. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, me and the Minister can debate whether sciencebased decisionmaking is happening at another time. My question here is how much did the tourism sector add to the GDP prior to COVID versus its current contribution; and, given this information, how realistic is it that we are moving away from a resourcebased economy any time soon? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, prior to COVID, tourism was at around 2 percent GDP. So not a huge contributor to our gross domestic product, certainly. And I don't think I've ever made any statements to the contrary that we are likely to remain dependent on a mineral resource sector as our primary contributor in the private sector to GDP. That is likely to continue into the near future. That said, Madam Speaker, the tourism industry contributes over and above its weight in terms of job contributions. There's a high level of jobs across the territory, particularly outside of Yellowknife as well as in the North Slave region, that are brought in through the tourism sector and, Madam Speaker, it's an important cultural component. It's such an opportunity to get the story of who and what we are on the world stage. So so I do want to put those two little plugs in there just to make sure that we are remembering that tourism is about much more than just the GDP contribution. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you. Final supplementary, Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Yeah, I never thought that the Minister didn't support the resource sector; I guess it just needed to be said to the public sometimes about how important it is.
Can the Minister commit to providing relief funding that does not require operators to financially contribute first? As two years without any business anymore means that they don't have any ability any further to provide money upfront to get their relief funding. So I would ask that the Minister considers 100 percent funding for relief for tourism operators. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, there is a long list of different funding programs, both through the GNWT and still with some federal government programs, I believe, still open. So, you know, I had to pull them out myself. It is a long list; I recognize that. Some do require equity contribution. And the most recent one, the one that was announced by the GNWT here back in August/September, the Tourism Restart Program, that does require a 10 percent equity contribution. But earlier programs did not. So PREP and STAR, STAR was for accommodations providers and the other PREP was tourism businesses. Those ones did not. So, you know, I can't emphasize enough if there are those in the industry who are still looking to stay open for domestic travel within the Northwest Territories, looking forward to hopefully some changes coming in the near future, that they connect with the regional superintendents, and we will make sure to work with them as best we can to find some programming so they're ready. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Hay River South.
