Kieron Testart

I want to ensure that we have something for our aurora season, which is perhaps the highlight of our tourism year, although, as I said earlier, there is plenty to do in this town any time of the year. When it comes to government funding of visitors' centres across the territory, we have seen different models. The ones that work best seems to be the ones where the building is owned by the government and the staff is provided on a contracted basis. These are efficient models that seem to work very well. Is the department considering that in addition to their talks with the NFVA?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The benefits of visitors' centres to a local economy are indisputable. They increase tourism spending on average by 10 per cent. In Yellowknife, that means $10 million; as much as $10 million is infused into our local economy. Can the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment explain what efforts have been made to date in order to preserve that vital service for our community? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that we report progress.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate that the Minister is keeping an open mind about this. Back to the initial people who provided the service, the Northern Frontier Visitors Association. They are still on the hook for remediating that site, and there is still a very large cost to demolishing the building, remediating the site, and making sure it can be handed back to the government. There has been no commitment made from the government to support those needs. The honourable Members representing Yellowknife constituencies have made that appeal to the government and asked them to provide...

The current agreement for the museum arrangement, the short-term solution, is very short-term. It expires October 1st. That is my understanding. What is the Minister doing to prepare the visitor information services post-October 1st? Can we guarantee we are going to have some sort of brick-and-mortar location for visitors who are here in the Northwest Territories?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to report to the Assembly that the Standing Committee on Government Operations has reviewed Bill 15, An Act to Amend the Tobacco Tax Act.

Mr. Speaker, this bill amends the Tobacco Tax Act to permit the introduction of an excise-paid tax stamp to facilitate verification that the proper taxes have been paid on tobacco sold in the Northwest Territories, thereby reducing opportunities for the sale of contraband tobacco. The bill also amends the process for tax collection to the "purchase method," requiring the remittance of taxes owing by wholesalers to...

I'm a bit disappointed. I know the Minister's very fond of consultants and helping the government do its work. What I'm trying to do by offering these suggestions is improve our procurement in a more public, transparent, and substantive way. If not any of these options I present on the table today, Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to coming to a constituency meeting or community meeting in my riding of Kam Lake that has many businesses and hearing the concerns directly from my constituents about the procurement? Will he make that commitment? I'll even provide the refreshments.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to thank the Minister of Infrastructure for putting such great confidence in me that a one-on-one meeting together will represent all the stakeholder interest in the procurement process and the government. Alas, Mr. Speaker, I am only one honourable Member of this House, and I'm going to ask if the Minister will reconsider his position from the previous sitting of this House and establish a special advisory panel on procurement that will draw expertise from public servants, NWT businesses, and procurement experts to make a better procurement system...

Does the Minister agree that a 15 month wait for a procurement application is unacceptable, and that that issue needs to be dealt with right away?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This government has shown its appetite to work on comprehensive issues for the government. The Honourable Minister for the NWT Housing Corporation has just undertaken a very long and lengthy review of the Housing Corporation's policies and programs. The Minister for Public Engagement and Transparency is doing a very public process on Open Government Policy. Will the Minister responsible for Infrastructure commit to undertaking the exact same style of review for procurement policies without delay? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.