Debates of October 15, 2004 (day 21)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I listened quite intently to the sessional statement the Premier gave a couple of days ago. There was something that wasn’t in that. I just wanted to question the Premier today about a glaring omission from that sessional statement, and that was the fact that it didn’t mention tourism.

My question isn’t related to the sessional statement itself, but I have a question for the Premier. I believe that is an affront to the tourism industry in the Northwest Territories. For a government that purports to support tourism, leaving that out was definitely a mistake. I wanted to know what value Mr. Handley’s government puts on tourism. Where does it fit in the grand scheme of things with this government? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Return To Question 229-15(3): Addressing Tourism In The NWT

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to assure the House and the public that even though we may not have mentioned some areas in the sessional statement, that does not mean it is no longer a priority. As I have said many times, most of our economy right now is based on non-renewable resource development. We have to use this opportunity to develop our renewable industries, and that includes tourism.

Mr. Speaker, I have been personally a strong advocate of the tourism industry, I remain that way and I can assure you that from our government’s perspective tourism is very much a part of our economy. I wish to assure the Member and the public that that remains a high priority. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Supplementary To Question 229-15(3): Addressing Tourism In The NWT

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Here’s where I can’t get into what transpires in business plans and committee meetings and things of that nature, but I just want to ask, perhaps transferring from the Premier to the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, what his department is going to do in the coming year to address the marketing needs and the promotion of this territory to the rest of the world. What are we going to do here in the next little while? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, that question is getting very near to our business plan but, Mr. Speaker, I’ll refer the question to the Minister responsible for tourism. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley, the honourable Minister of RWED, Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 229-15(3): Addressing Tourism In The NWT

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Premier said, tourism is very important to the government and coming from our strategic plan, our 10-year plan, linked to that are a number of initiatives. We’ve had a good discussion around this area, both with committee and also with Caucus, and developed a number of theme areas. One of them is the diversification of the economy, and we see tourism as something that has great potential for all regions of the Northwest Territories and we can provide business opportunities for northerners from coast to coast to coast and I think that there are a number of key priorities going forward. We are currently undertaking several initiatives. One of them is some revision to our Travel and Tourism Act, and this is to streamline that act and clear up some duplication. We’re also doing a product inventory with our partners at Aboriginal Business Canada and at DIAND to make sure that we have the product available and on the ground when we get people here. It doesn’t make sense, I think we’ve realized, to drive people and to focus solely on marketing and destination marketing if, in fact, you don’t have a tourism product available for people when they get here. So it’s important to have both those areas covered when you are talking about tourism. The last thing that we are doing currently is working with the NWT Arctic Tourism Association to look into issues concerning the mandate of our department and that organization to make sure that there isn’t duplication and to make sure that we’re properly coordinated to focus on tourism most effectively with the money that we do have. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Supplementary To Question 229-15(3): Addressing Tourism In The NWT

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Mr. Premier and Mr. Bell, for your responses. The next question I have is when will the government actually put its money where its mouth is and actually take a look at the funding it supplies to the tourism industry and increase that funding? It hasn’t happened for a number of years and if we are going to say we support the tourism industry here in the Northwest Territories, it’s time to put our money where our mouth is and look at some increased funding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I’m wondering when that might happen. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 229-15(3): Addressing Tourism In The NWT

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that we want to be able to focus more keenly on tourism, and that, I hope, will involve more money going forward, but I need to be able to go back to the Financial Management Board with a compelling case given the strain on resources and the competing needs for resources. That case, I think, will be built around this product inventory. I need to be able to explain to my colleagues that we do need to focus as much resource as possible on helping people in communities develop product. This is one of the reasons we talked around the BDIC and the flexibility that that new mechanism will allow, because really small business opportunities, many of them, we believe and hope, we’ll be able to focus on the tourism area. So we think there’s a lot of potential there; but as I sit down to make this case, I need to be able to explain that we’ve dealt with overlap issues in relation to the NWTAT and the department and make sure that our delivery mechanism makes sense. My colleagues are going to want to hear that as I make the case for new resources that we’ve thought this through and we know how to most effectively spend the money that we’re hoping to get. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Your final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Supplementary To Question 229-15(3): Addressing Tourism In The NWT

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks, Mr. Minister, for the response. That’s all fine and good, but this report that’s going to be done on the duplication may be between NWT Arctic Tourism and the department that’s going to happen and that’s going to roll out, but when? When is the government going to put more resources and more money into tourism? That’s the question I have for the Minister. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 229-15(3): Addressing Tourism In The NWT

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can’t get into the business plan discussion for this year and the specifics of that, but I can say that I’m expecting the results of this review, this tourism programs and services review, before Christmas. That will allow me to get this into the machinery for the business planning cycle for next year. It will be in with a number of competing needs, but I’ll strongly advocate for and make the case that we need to focus on this in the upcoming business planning session. Thank you.