David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The secondary industry and the benefaction when it comes to diamonds around the world has been hit very hard. There have been factories closing in locations like Namibia, Vietnam and even in India, lower cost environments. So the economics right now aren’t, obviously, the best.

The issue the Member talks about is a private business matter and really we shouldn’t be discussing that on the floor of this House. Thank you.

The numbers I spoke of earlier, I think a direct correlation can be drawn with the fact that this government, and with the support of that side of the House, supported the increased efforts in marketing our tourism industry here in the Northwest Territories, promoting the products that we have here, and I think the numbers we’re starting to see now are paying off. That investment is certainly paying off.

We shouldn’t kid ourselves, though. Out of the 13 jurisdictions in this country, the Northwest Territories ranks 12th in terms of what we put into marketing the tourism industry. We have seen...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m very proud of our record of support for skills development in the tourism industry. ITI has hosted numerous courses on boat safety and first aid to improve the level of safety of our tourism operations. We’ve developed a tourism hospitality program focused on Aboriginal people, and conducted many hospitality training workshops over the life of this government.

Our Tourism 2015 plan rested on three pillars: people, communities, and business. Continued investment in the skills of the people in this industry is essential for future economic growth, and I hope that the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It has been an honour and a privilege to continue to serve the constituents of Kam Lake, this House, its Members and the residents of the Northwest Territories. I want to wish everybody good luck and best wishes as the end of the 17th Assembly comes to close, especially my colleagues Ms. Bromley…

---Laughter

Ms. Bisaro and Mr. Bromley.

A bit of a Freudian slip. There’s never been any jokes about that.

But all kidding aside, I wish both of my colleagues all the best in your retirement. It’s been a pleasure to work with you both. I know the constituents in both Weledeh and...

To my knowledge, that type of evaluation hasn’t been conducted, but it may have and I may not be aware of that. Again, I’ll go back to the department, I’ll ask them and we’ll see what we can do. I know there are only 17 days left, so I will see what we can do.

It would go back to the circumstances surrounding the individual who was being transported, but again, to my knowledge, the corrections service does supply that type of duty or obligation in getting inmates transferred from facility to facility. But again, depending on the nature of the individual and security risk, the RCMP may be involved in that. As to whether or not the sheriff’s office could take part in transferring folks around, again, that’s something that I’ll go back to the department and ask them about.

Thank you. I guess I take a different view on this than the Member. We recouped close to $2 million. To my knowledge, lease payments are up to date; taxes are up to date on those two buildings. So, again, we will work through the process and this is a legal agreement that we have with the proponent. We will continue to work through the processes that are there and involve the right people in sorting this out. Thank you.

Officials at the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment continue to work with the proponent on the factories, and again, it’s a private business matter and best not discussed on the floor of this House. Thank you.

One of the primary contributions through the EOS and the recommendation was for a convention bureau. We funded that at $100,000 a year. That’s had a direct impact. We’ve been able to attract conferences, hopefully, bringing well over a million dollars in economic impact here to the Northwest Territories. Looking at the regional marketing dollars, $50,000 goes into each region to allow the regions to market products specifically in their own region. We have resources for product development that have allowed investment in community tourism, leveraging over a million dollars in federal funding...

Again, we’re very proud of the work that we’ve done in China. We’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of visitors from China, since a handful in the low hundreds in 2010, to between January of last year and July this year, well over 7,000 Chinese visitors. We have recently hosted the ambassador from China to Canada here in Yellowknife, in Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk.

We’ve only really scratched the surface at the potential of the Chinese market. Markets in Asia remain fertile ground for us when it comes to tourism and attracting more folks here, and undoubtedly, the next government will be...