Bob McLeod

Reducing red tape is a constant priority of our government and we spend a lot of time at it. I don't find the Canadian Federation of Independent Business Red Tape Report card of much help or assistance or very useful. I don't feel that having somebody coming down from Toronto once or twice a year and giving us a failing grade and not making any suggestions on how to improve. They don't go to the communities. I don't find that report very helpful.

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories has made a commitment in its mandate to build partnerships to support, among other things, culturally-based tourism. The tourism sector offers the potential for direct and indirect economic growth in many of our communities and the possibility for diversification and growth of regional economies. As we look to the future, we can be assured that our government’s strategic approach to tourism development is already working. In 2010, we introduced the Tourism 2015 Plan with an ambitious goal of building the NWT tourism sector to a $30...

Implementing the agreement-in-principle means that the parties will complete the negotiation of the final selfgovernment agreement and that all of the necessary arrangements and agreements that need to be in place before the effective date of the agreement are worked out and agreed to by all of the parties. The agreement-in-principle sets out the structure of the Inuvialuit Government, an exclusive Aboriginal selfgovernment that will serve and represent Inuvialuit citizens and deliver government programs and services to Inuvialuit in the Western Arctic region.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Inuvialuit SelfGovernment Agreement-in-Principle was signed by the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, the Government of the Northwest Territories, and the federal government on July 22 2015 in Inuvik. With the signing of the Inuvialuit SelfGovernment Agreement-in-Principle, the parties are actively working towards the timely conclusion of a final Inuvialuit selfgovernment agreement.

Here in the Northwest Territories, we are very fortunate to have very strong Chambers of Commerce. We have the NWT Chamber of Commerce and we have at least five or six chambers throughout the Northwest Territories in every region. We have a very close relationship, and the NWT Chamber of Commerce shares our view of the red tape report, and because of the fact that we are a small jurisdiction, we can interact almost on a one-to-one basis with businesses, especially when we travel to the regions.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess the main barriers, as I see it, is the ability to develop business plans and the access to financial assistance and aftercare so that the biggest barrier to being a successful business is getting through the first year and surviving for five years, so any aftercare we can provide. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are working at this from a number of fronts. First of all was the successful achievement of devolution two years ago and we are now continuing to devolve and evolve and the mining legislation out there will be reviewed. We are also looking at introducing a Mineral Resources Act. The Northwest Territories is one of only two jurisdictions in Canada that does not have a Mineral Resources Act. This will be very important for our mining industry. It will provide for more effective oversight and enforcement of Northwest Territories mining regulations. We are also talking...

Early next year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we share those views. Thank you.

That's correct, Mr. Chair.