Brendan Bell

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of regional economic development conferences that have either been hosted or are in the planning stages and not necessarily headed up by our department, but our department has participated in and will continue to participate in these. It is something that I am certainly prepared to discuss. I think, as this business program review comes forward and we talk about improvements, there is some merit to pulling business interests and stakeholders together to discuss what we are thinking needs to be done. So that is something that we can certainly...

There certainly are a number of things. I would like to talk to committee about them. Just off the top of my head, I think, obviously, capital is always scarce. I think, in past, we’ve had a difficulty in freeing up some of that capital. Oftentimes, when you have the government bank have successful loans that are working well, they are reluctant to move them off to the chartered banks. But I think that we should be looking to take our successful loans and make sure the chartered banks get involved where possible so that we can free up more capital to then go out to other potential lenders...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that Bill 5, An Act to Amend the Territorial Parks Act, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that Bill 3, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that Bill 11, Tourism Act, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill enacts the Tourism Act which replaces the Travel and Tourism Act. The bill provides for the licensing of persons conducting or offering to conduct guided commercial tourism activities. Tourism special management areas may be designated so that limits or restrictions may be placed on tourism activities in areas that are archaeologically, culturally, historically or spiritually significant or that are ecologically sensitive. Provision is made for a...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that Bill 6, Engineering and Geoscience Profession Act, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill replaces the Engineering, Geological and Geophysical Professions Act, and continues the existing Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of the Northwest Territories as the new Northwest Territories Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists. The association is responsible for the regulation of the professions of professional engineering and professional geoscience in the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I met with Jim Prentice -- it must be about a month ago now -- to discuss this specific issue, the need for a long-term, permanent EDA, Economic Development Agreement, in the Northwest Territories. I made him very much aware that we would have preferred the SINED funds be handled by either the territorial government or northern interests and see the decisions made here at home, but we had accepted that the existing SINED funds were going to be rolled out, DIAND making the decisions. As long as there was some consideration of our priorities, we could live with that...

Mr. Chair, thank you. Just some clarification of the question. Are we talking about the annual increases for Members’ indemnities tied to CPI and what that will approximately be per year, or are you talking about the total package of enhancements and changes here? I think we can give you some estimates of numbers. We don’t know the CPI going forward, so there are some unknowns here.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, colleagues. An open house was held last week in Hay River. A brochure highlighting the tourism industry is being distributed in all NWT communities, and we are working with the Northern Frontier Visitors Association to support the second annual Discover North Tourism Awareness Golf Tournament this Friday.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our tourism industry personnel for their dedication to this important industry and thank them for a job well done. I would also like to take this time to underscore some major initiatives that this...

I would, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.