Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions will be directed to the Minister of ITI, the Honourable Bob McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, since the launch of the Made in the NWT Program, many northern manufacturers have told me they appreciated the leadership of the government in recognizing and supporting local goods being produced here in the North and they believe it’s been an incredible step forward in recognition of the work they do. Mr. Speaker, I truly believe that the Made in the NWT label gives Northerners a chance to buy local products that have been produced locally with a great sense of pride and value.
Mr. Speaker, what I’d like to ask the Minister of ITI today is would he be interested in expanding the program to consider other options to what I’d like to define as the “in the NWT program.” Quite simply, Mr. Speaker, we have many examples of homegrown or home-developed products in the North such as the film industry, be it agriculture through growing, arts and crafts. So you could say filmed in the NWT, grown in the NWT, crafted in the NWT, and even perhaps, but not limited to, performed in the NWT.
Mr. Speaker, my question directly to the Minister is: would he be willing to investigate the expansion of the program to allow us to look at other areas to continue to enhance northern pride in the things we do and produce here in the North?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have a number of brands that we have developed over the years and I believe that branding is a very important concept that allows us to promote and market the North.
I’ll just give you a list of some of the branding that we’ve done. We have NWT Arts, we have Spectacular NWT for tourism, we have a host of diamond brands, Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur brand, Come Make Your Mark and, of course, the Member has mentioned the Made in the Northwest Territories brand that we developed with the Chamber of Commerce and the NWT Construction Association.
I think branding is very good. We have world-class products and a lot of goods like furs, which are some of the best furs in the world. Branding is a very good way to promote the North. We are interested in any opportunity to improve in those areas. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I raised this issue with no intent of taking away from the hard work that has been produced, but any branding expert can tell you that when you expand and harmonize a branding product, you make sure that you overlap and in particular ways. That way your target audience, clients or potential buyers can all recognize the synergy is all enveloped in your messaging. For example, you can say experiencing the NWT without taking away the spectacular concept provided and promoted by NWT Tourism, or furthermore, as one more example, you can say only in the NWT and that would help, again, for the marketing concept.
Once again, I would like to ask the Minister, would he consider taking a serious look into this particular issue and see if we can develop a synergy or a strategic approach that lends in the NWT as a focal point to build upon our great products here? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, there are a number of challenges with regard to branding. As you know, for example, when marketing at Northern House, it was brought to our attention that a lot of products were being made elsewhere and being marketed either as Aboriginal or northern, so I think a branding would go a long ways to address that. Also, you need to make sure that you have quality control so that you deliver a good product. We would certainly be quite prepared to look further into this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
