Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my opening remarks, I had mentioned the Sahtu region as a huge contributing region untapped, but yet recognized with its resources. In the areas of resource development and pristine attractions for tourism, which we all know is a huge economy by itself and bringing huge benefits to our territory. To create a pristine environment in our area, it's within our Sahtu Land Claim to have the Canol Trail cleaned up and turned over to a heritage trail, which would inject attractions to the tourist community. My question today, is to the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, to see if that is still a high priority. And if it’s a high priority, I’ll get back to my second question on the supplementary, Mr. Speaker.
---Laughter
Masi. There's almost two questions there. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Canol Trail cleanup has been in the works for quite a few years now, as part of the Sahtu Land Claim. Those provisions provide for a Canol Trail park. Progress has been slow because of the fact that the land still has to be cleaned up by the Government of Canada before it will be transferred to the Government of the Northwest Territories so that it can be turned into a park. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
My second question to the Minister is: would he be open to an unsolicited proposal from local stakeholders on the concept of a one-stop shop to clean up this 222-mile section?
We have worked with the Sahtu to do exactly that, whereby we have facilitated the federal government paying for cleanup of the parts of the Canol Trail and to actually provide funding for groups in the Sahtu to participate in the cleanup, and we would be prepared to do that once again, using federal funding.
Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
