Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I spoke about manufacturing in the Northwest Territories. I mentioned that there were barriers to growth that needed to be addressed. They were too numerous to mention in detail in my Member’s statement, and too numerous to mention now. They include things outside the government’s control, but there are also bureaucratic issues that the government has the power to address. That is one reason that this manufacturing strategy is so important, and I have learned that when the government announces the development of a strategy, there is no point in asking for changes before that, because nothing changes until that strategy. With the exception of Aurora College, and I do support that foundational review, as an aside. My question is for the Minister of ITI: what is the timeline for beginning the development of the manufacturing strategy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As all Members know, we are mandated in the 18th Legislative Assembly to do this. We spoke about this in the House before. This is something that is very important to me, as I came from the manufacturing sector. The department is doing a bunch of preliminary work on how we are going to bring this strategy forward, and when the time comes, I will inform the House when the strategy will be implemented. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It almost leads into my second question. I asked when it was going to begin being developed, and he said he would bring it forward when it is being implemented. It is a good lead-in to my second question: will the Minister commit to working with the Standing Committee on Economic Development, in addition to the Manufacturers’ Association, in the development of the draft strategy, in a way that allows for meaningful input from the committee, as opposed to the current method of engagement, which only allows the committee to suggest tweaks to what is virtually a finished product by the time we see it?
ITI will gladly follow the prescribed process of GNWT to develop legislations and strategies moving forward and prior to its public release. I don’t have a problem having a sit down with committee and getting their input and review the document before it’s released.
We have to follow traditional set-in-stone government policy. I thought this was a changed government. Mr. Speaker, I can help with this strategy. I have ideas. I know the issues. I wish the Minister would just work with us. You know, take some pressure off his department. I’m sure they have a lot to do. That’s something I’ll follow up on. Another big issue has been these giant projects, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars, P3 projects where a company from the South would get it and the money just flows out of the territory. I’d like to ask will the Minister commit to working with Finance with the goal of using the P3 projects to better develop northern manufacturing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The P3 concept is probably a little more challenging one. I commit to the Member that we could sit down with Finance and figure out a way moving forward, but as all Members know in this House, with federal treasury money, there’s a different set of rules on procurement around that and we’re going to have to probably sit down not with just myself and the Finance Minister but with the federal government if there’s a way forward to implement this into a possibility with P3 projects.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m still shaken from that first answer and the second answer. How about this? Will the Minister commit to being an agent of change and working with committee the way I suggested in my second question? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m always willing to have input from anyone in the Northwest Territories, including Members from the other side or my colleagues along this side of the table. It’s just going to take all of us to make a better territory for everybody, especially around manufacturing.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
