David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to Written Question 2-17(4), I wish to table the following document, entitled Itinerary for 2013 Diamond Tour.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s in both industry and the Government of the Northwest Territories’ best interest to have employees living here in the Northwest Territories. Again, ITI was responsible for the negotiation and completion of the socio-economic agreements and the training requirement is the responsibility of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. As I mentioned earlier, we work closely with Minister Lafferty and his staff, we are currently trying to put together a pan-territorial approach to mine training that would look at providing the funding for both the Nunavut...

Thank you. The three mining companies were before the Member’s committee last fall. These concerns weren’t raised at that time with me from the mines. Again, we meet with the mining presidents, we meet with industry at every opportunity. We just recently had a meeting between the three Ministers and the mines here in Yellowknife not too long ago. We need to find a way forward, and in this case it does us little good to be fighting with industry, in the case of De Beers, a company that’s going to invest close to $1 billion into this territory and provide many more job opportunities here in the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s an honour and privilege to recognize a colleague from Nunavut, Deputy Premier, the Honourable Peter Taptuna. He’s also the Minister of Economic Development, Transportation, Tourism, Housing, the Nunavut Business Credit Corporation, the Nunavut Development Corporation, and also the Minister of Energy. Welcome to Minister Taptuna.

With Minister Taptuna is his executive assistant, Pat Angnakak. Welcome.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a return to a written question asked by Mr. Dolynny on February 6, 2013.

Madam Chair, the budget has gone down. There’s much debate about whether the program itself survived. My belief is that we are fortunate to have $300,000 in this year’s budget to continue the Sport Hunt Outfitter Marketing Program. We’ve done our best to keep it in this year’s budget. It’s at the level it is at and that’s the way it is, Madam Chair. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, again, the Member raises a number of concerns and, again, it’s an independent board and I look forward to having them here to discuss issues with the Members.

We have to remember, in regard to the subsidiaries, they were set up, when they were set up to create employment in communities, provide economic opportunities and that’s what they’re set out to do. The subsidiaries are a big part of what the BDIC does. It provides economic activity in some of our smaller communities. So again, this is a discussion that the Member wants to have with the BDIC board and I think we should try...

Thanks, Madam Chair. It’s partially included in this year’s budget, but for the detail I’ll go to Deputy Minister Vician.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That plan is tabled in the House on an annual basis and I think it may be – the Member is asking a number of questions – very beneficial to get the board, the chairman in to meet with Regular Members. If Regular Members have concerns or questions about the operation, it would be a perfect opportunity to ask the board. They are an independent board. Certainly, they provide me with a corporate overview and I do meet with them to talk about their operations with subsidiaries. But, again, I think there could be a lot of utility in having the board come and meet with...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the Minister’s comments, and as industry and energy go together with communities, that is something – and I mentioned it earlier in response to another Member – we have to always be looking for opportunities when there is resource development near a community that we can get long-term, lasting benefits for the community. You look around the Northwest Territories today, hydro is here because of the mining past and history of the territory with Taltson, Snare and Bluefish. So there’s been a history of that and if we are going to get to some long-lasting...