Debates of May 28, 2004 (day 15)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the last few days, we’ve been advised in the business community in Yellowknife of difficulties encountered by the Aurora World Corporation. This is the leading company, I believe, in Canada for the aurora winter viewing tourism industry, especially associated with the thousands of Japanese who choose to come to Canada in winter to view this natural spectacle. Mr. Speaker, in a previous life, in the late 1980s, I was involved in the tourism industry here in the NWT when this industry was just being created. It was a remarkable thing to watch professionals from the Canadian, the Japanese and the northern tourism industries get together and say there is something here that could work. It is totally unique, it is untried, but we want to give it a go, and we did and have in the space of about 10 or 12 years developed a remarkable piece of the Canadian tourism industry. The difficulties encountered by the Aurora World Corporation are unfortunate, but they are being dealt with, and of course as information has indicated, our government is indeed one of the investors that is exposed here. I think at this time the most important thing that we can do here in Yellowknife, here in the North, is express our confidence and our commitment in this industry, that we have to let the hundreds of workers who are affected in the service industry know that this government and this assembly wants this industry to continue. We want the investors to know that we are on side, and especially at this time, Mr. Speaker, we want the Japanese visitors, the people who are making the choice and putting down the money to come and visit us this coming winter, to have confidence in what we are doing. That is the message I want to put forth and put out today on behalf of this industry. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause