Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today in my Member's statement I talked about the relationship between Canada and China, and what is at risk if the relationship doesn't stay as a positive one. I'd like to take this opportunity and ask the Premier a few questions: can the Premier advise if he has expressed concerns to the federal government about the impact on the NWT economy of the dampening of Canada's relationship with China? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. The Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our relationship with China goes back a long way and, if anything, the recent tightening of the Chinese government on subnational investments and business has had a limited effect on our territory. Most of the investments were in mining. We did have some business investment and, with the crackdown on a number of areas, some of the Chinese businesspeople who were here, we haven't seen in a while, but as far as I can tell, the most visible Chinese visitors are the Chinese tourists. I have not seen a decrease in their visitation. It could be a concern. The Chinese could see fit to revoke the designation of Canada as an approved destination status, but we haven't seen any evidence of that yet. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister for his confidence that things appear, at this point in time, to be fairly secure and that we are not seeing any direct impact so far. I would like to ask the Premier: what, if anything, has the Government of Canada indicated to our government that our relationship and investments with China will not be disadvantaged?
Other than what we see in the media, there has been no reaching out by the Government of Canada to us. I believe that, the incident at Huawei, Canada was following the rule of law. The fact that a number of individuals were apprehended in China gives us pause to think. We were planning a trade mission to China for this year, but we have since put it on the back burner. We are waiting to see what happens.
I have met the Chinese ambassador to Canada, but it was before some of the latest incidents happening.
As the Premier has indicated, we continue to build upon the relationships with China. It was looking as though we were going to travel there once again, but already this relationship between Canada and China has been having an effect. We have put a pause on that now. Let me ask: has the government reached out to reassure our friends and business partners, both here at home and in China, that, regardless of international matters, we remain open for and interested in their business?
Yes, we certainly are prepared to do that. We are still in contact with the Chinese, People's Republic, friends of the people who usually host us when we go to China. There is still a possibility that we could go there before the end of the term of this government. With regards to tourism, we continue to market the Northwest Territories to Chinese tourists, and I think that we are prepared to look at further investment.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the response from the Premier. Just lastly, can the Premier indicate if there have been any communications locally, here, with our Chinese business owners, and have we encouraged the tourism operators here or assured them that we are still open for business, that any concerns that they might have are certainly being paid attention to and that we are going to continue to build positive relationships with China?
We have done a lot of work with the Chinese over the past. We have developed a China Strategy for the Northwest Territories. We have also been looking at investing in sister cities or provinces. We just recently had a Chinese counsellor visiting us, meeting with the Minister of Economic Development, and he assured us that it was business as usual. Destinations Canada, who have offices in China and Beijing, have also reassured us that it is still business as usual, at least in the tourism business. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
