David Ramsay

I respect the Member and I respect his point of view, but when we got together after the 17th Legislative Assembly was elected in 2011, we came together, we formed a vision, we came up with our goals, and I’ll list them off here: a strong independent North built on partnerships; an environment that will sustain present and future generations; healthy, educated people free from poverty; a diversified economy that provides all communities and regions with opportunities and choices; sustainable, vibrant communities; and effective and efficient government.

Mr. Speaker, we have a region of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand the Member’s concern. Again, if the leadership in those communities and the Member feel strongly that they would like to see us in those communities, whether we can get to all three or not, we will try our best. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned last week, we are going to take more time with the process that we have underway.

Again, every application is scrutinized by arm’s-length regulatory boards that hear directly from the public and make decisions and set requirements for every single project based on the specifics of each proposal, recognized best practices, current science and public views. Ruling out one particular technique is like telling a doctor they can only ever use general anesthetic for a procedure, when local anesthetic or even an aspirin might be more appropriate. It is more...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The federal government has been very good supporters of economic development here through the CanNor office here in Yellowknife and across the North. We continue to discuss, with the federal government, an opportunity to invest in a commercial fishery on Great Slave Lake, and we do need about $5.5 million to put in an export grade fish plant in Hay River. We have earmarked $1.5 million. We’re going to need some partners. We have to continue to put the question on the table to the feds. I had the opportunity last year to meet with Minister Shea in Ottawa. We’ve invited...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The proposed park, of course, follows the now defunct Canol Pipeline built during World War II, of course. It includes several waste sites with abandoned buildings. I know the Member and I have toured some of those abandoned buildings, equipment and vehicles interlinked with an old roadway. These sites present hazards to human and animal health, including oil spills, exposed asbestos, structurally unsafe buildings as well as almost 650 linear kilometres of copper coated steel telephone wire. There’s a lot out there that needs to be remediated, needs to be looked at.

I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct; the federal government has made a commitment to remediate the area. They say it’s going to take five years. Sometimes they say one thing and it may take, in fact, longer than the five years that they’ve committed to. But the other issue here is we had wanted them to take the class 1 sites – there are four of them to be remediated – but the fact remains that they have that entire stretch of 222 kilometres, one kilometre on either side of it. It’s a big area and it’s going to require a lot of work to remediate.

We continue to look at that as an...

Mr. Speaker, this is National Tourism Week and across the NWT we are celebrating with events ranging from the “Be A Tourist In Your Own Town” promotion here in Yellowknife to community picnics, film screenings, open houses and complementary tours of local attractions.

There is much to celebrate and I would like to take a moment to highlight some of the recent successes and milestones this vibrant sector of our economy has achieved.

Last October I shared with Members that over 90,000 visitors travelled to the Northwest Territories in the 2013-14 fiscal year. That is the highest number of visitors...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Wednesday, June 3, 2015, I will move that Bill 59, Estate Administration Law Amendment Act, be read for the first time.

As I mentioned earlier, we are currently engaged with the Fishermen’s Federation. We are reviewing the subsidy program that we have in place. This really is, or would be, a short-term or band-aid solution. The real effort has to be into the long-term vision of the fishery on Great Slave Lake. But if there is a way we can continue to work with the Fishermen’s Federation in Hay River and the subsidy program, we want to ensure we are providing the supports we need to ensure we can get where we need to go, and that is have a vibrant commercial fishery industry on Great Slave Lake. Thank you.

I will be back in Ottawa next week, and of course this is an issue that is important to the Member, it’s important for our territory. We have to continue to focus our efforts on the revitalization of this fishery. We are going to try to attract more fishers. We also have a vision for what we want to see with the commercial fishery on Great Slave Lake, and I want to thank the Member and his counterpart, Mrs. Groenewegen, for their help and support in us trying to get where we need to go. Thank you.