David Ramsay

Thank you. They’re acutely aware of that and I believe wholeheartedly that they’d like nothing more than to see the majority of their workforce take up residence here in the Northwest Territories. However, the reality is, and I just returned from an FTP meeting in Goose Bay, Labrador, where the economy is red hot in Labrador, as well, and the representative from the province of Alberta mentioned to the Ministers at that meeting that in four years’ time the province of Alberta is going to have a 77,000 person deficit when it comes to skilled tradespeople in the province of Alberta, and that’s...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To the Members that feel we’re rushing into this, this project was initiated by the leadership in the Beaufort-Delta, by the Inuvialuit, the community of Tuktoyaktuk and the Town of Inuvik. The PDR work was done and it was initiated by the region. It was a regional effort to get the PDR work. That work was done by the communities that are up there. If we have a $150 million commitment from the federal government and it’s a priority of the government to build the highway between Tuk and Inuvik, what do Members want us to do when we have opportunity? Do they want us to...

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to highlight work this government is doing to support the mining industry. We want to ensure we have a territory where exploration and development are undertaken in a responsible manner that benefits all Northwest Territories residents.

I recently attended the Mineral Exploration Roundup in Vancouver. This is the world’s premier technical mineral exploration conference, with attendees from over 30 countries. At the roundup, I had the opportunity to speak with people from across Canada and the world about the vast mineral potential of the Northwest Territories. I...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m happy the Member supports the project. But listening to the questions she had, I believe I answered a number of them in the hours I spent with committee last week. I think I’ve mentioned the fact that maintenance on that 135 kilometres between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk, the estimate that we put out there is about $2 million a year. That was mentioned at committee. It was mentioned earlier today, and I’ll put that out there again for the Member.

She has, I guess, cast some negative aspersions about a project that we haven’t even gotten off the ground yet. All we’re...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do appreciate the Member’s comments in regard to the funding request, the $2.5 million. I just want to restate something I believe my colleague Minister Miltenberger stated earlier. The Tuktoyaktuk to Inuvik highway is the first section of the Mackenzie Valley Highway and we need to start somewhere. If we want to realize the dream, a highway in the Mackenzie Valley, this is the beginning of that. So, again, I just wanted to put that out there. We need to start somewhere and this is where we’re going to start. I appreciate the Member’s support. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It is my understanding that the work, the geotechnical and environmental work, much of that is easily done during winter months, which would require the work to be concluded prior to May. If we are looking for additional funding next fiscal year, some of that work would get done almost immediately on the heels of the work that is going to be done with the $2.5 million in this supp in an attempt to get the environmental assessment complete so that we can get to the details of the agreement with the federal government. I know the Member said some of this sounds like it is...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I respect the Member’s opinion. I don’t necessarily agree with some of what the Member has said.

For him to say that there’s no debate, there is debate, this is the first step along the way, the second step along the way. So there’s ample opportunity for us to debate this $2.5 million right here today. Also for the Member to say it’s last minute, it does seem like it’s moving along quickly. It’s a big project. It’s something we support from the federal government on: $150 million. There aren’t any other substantial, huge projects going on. The Deh Cho Bridge will be...

I understand the Member’s concerns. Obviously the MOU expired last year. We’re in the process of working on replacing the MOU and what form that takes is yet to be determined. I certainly will bring up the issue of exhausting all avenues for employment in all regions of the Northwest Territories to the mining presidents when I do meet with them again and we do get some formal correspondence from them on the next steps forward as we work towards a replacement for that MOU moving forward.

Industry’s involvement is through the Northwest Territories Tourism. They have a board of directors there. They’re actively involved in the tourism industry here in the Northwest Territories. They do a great job marketing tourism here in the Northwest Territories to both tourists in North America and around the world.

With a marketing initiative like that you don’t see the results until sometimes two and three years down the road. Certainly one of the evaluation criteria is the number of visitors that end up coming to visit the Northwest Territories and those numbers are easily tracked.