Bob McLeod

Mr. Speaker, the agreements that are in place require us to monitor it. It is tied to the price of heating oil. We monitor it on that basis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize Mr. Chris Hunt, entrepreneur around town. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, that Bill 9, An Act to Amend the Tourism Act, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill amends the Tourism Act by repealing the provisions regarding the Tourist Deposit Assurance Program. A transitional provision allows the Minister to review those applications for reimbursement of a deposit made in respect of a tourism activity before November 15, 2010, and render a decision on those claims. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. I think that would be an ideal time, now that we’ve committed to having committees meet in June. I think that would be an ideal objective for us to work towards and I’ll certainly commit to the Member that we will finalize or have in place our draft policy in final form to be reviewed by committee in June. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are very pleased to be able to work closely with committee on developing this Diamond Policy. We have been working with them every step of the way. We met with them in November. We fully briefed them on the old Diamond Policy and what areas needed to be changed. We certainly appreciated the direction we received from committee. We have gone out to consultation. We want to make sure we do this properly, make sure that due process is followed and we have consulted internally first. There are a number of other government departments that play a very important role in...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents entitled Businesspeople Working for Other Businesspeople, Northwest Territories Business Development and Investment Corporation Corporate Plan 2010-2011, and NWT Business Development and Investment Corporation Annual Report 2008-2009. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. In our view this is a Government of the Northwest Territories policy. It has no implications for land claims. In the example that the Member uses, I believe he’s talking about the Inuvik Capital Suites. It’s 50 percent owned by the Zheh Gwizu Limited and 50 percent by NewNorth Projects Ltd. The Business Incentive Policy is very clear as to the requirements for definition of a northern business and the Business Incentive Policy approval requires either 51 percent northern ownership or they be a grandfathered company, which has a minimum of 10 years operating in the North with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As a government we have been negotiating MOUs on contracting with different aboriginal governments. It’s under the auspices of our government policy. It’s not a requirement of any land claim. We have had that checked out. There’s been arbitration cases which have supported that aspect and certainly it is our preference to work with land claim organizations, aboriginal governments so that we can work together to provide for increased economic measures in all of the regions. We have had a memorandum of understanding on contracting with the Gwich’in which has expired, but...

Mr. Speaker, I would like to clarify my response to Mr. Hawkin’s question regarding summer students yesterday in this House. There are two categories for hiring summer students. Summer students are provided with hiring priority between April 15th and August 31st.

The first category is students hired within the progressive experience and relative experience programs. These programs are specifically designed to provide students with job experience related to the student’s field of study where the emphasis of the job is on providing relevant work experience.

Priority 1 is an indigenous aboriginal...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that Bill 9, An Act to Amend the Tourism Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.