David Ramsay

Through business plans we heard the concerns from the Members and we have taken steps to review the office in Hay River. We’ve come back to committee. We’re in the process of working through that and we hope to continue to move forward. I appreciate the Member’s comments, but I’ve given a commitment to do that and I will continue to pursue that.

The MECC is a committee of Cabinet so those would first be proposed there, as is the way business is conducted here, would filter through the committee system that we have set up here.

Yes, we can supply that to the Member.

Not today, Mr. Chair, but perhaps next week. Thank you.

ITI works very closely with my colleague the Minister of ECE in partnership to address gaps and explore ways to best support the film industry here in the Northwest Territories. We’re looking as we move forward at a joint annual report that will be produced jointly between ITI and ECE to identify new initiatives and progress made in the last previous year with regard to the film industry. We are working toward that. I do appreciate the Member’s concern and I do believe we are doing something about that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had the original Ice Road Trucker, Alex Debogorski, a constituent of mine, at my constituency meeting not too long ago. This was a discussion that came up, how the government could utilize a show like Ice Road Truckers or Ice Pilots NWT and market the territory internationally. That is something I’m certainly interested in. I’m interested in seeing us advance.

I know in the past we’ve had Mikey McBryan down at the Northern House in Vancouver during the Olympics. There are opportunities for us to showcase folks that are involved in the film and television industry. At...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the past couple of years there’s been $250,000 under the Community Access Program given to the community of Aklavik to do PDR work on the Willow River gravel access road. Also, there was an additional $100,000. There was a bridge that was looked at and it was deemed to be too expensive. So the $100,000 that was earmarked for that bridge project has gone also to continue the work on the PDR for the gravel access road for the community of Aklavik.

I think at some point this summer I would like to be in Hay River to have a look at the port of Hay River, to discuss with operators, fishermen, people who use that port on a daily basis the needs on the dredging side. Again, certainly, I think we have to come up with a business case and continue to impress upon the federal government the need to put some money into dredging the port of Hay River. It’s estimated it could be as high as about $12 million to $15 million to dredge the port of Hay River.

The goal of this government is to diversify the economy here in the Northwest Territories. Certainly we’re going to take every opportunity to do that. I’d be more than happy to work with Regular Members to look at commercial fishing here in the NWT to see what we can do. If we can do things differently and make a difference and grow that industry here in the Northwest Territories, that’s something I’m interested in. I know there’s a number of Members across the floor that are interested in doing that. We can put our best effort into that.

The reality is the fishermen remain in Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation and involved in that organization. As a government, the Government of the Northwest Territories has been supporting the commercial fishing industry in the Northwest Territories for well over 30 years. We provide money on an annual basis to operate and maintain an office in Hay River. We have a $225,000 support on an annual basis to help fishermen in the territory. In response to the decline in marketing initiatives and sales, we’ve also come up with $550,000 to help support local fish and meat processing in the...