Shane Thompson

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for that clarification. At this point in time, I have no further questions. Thank you.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Since the early 2000s it is my understanding, thanks to the mines and government projects, we have maintained a significant higher per capita income than the rest of Canada. This would be great if it was across all 33 communities. Unfortunately, the latest statistics show that we have a huge number of residents struggling with low income. There is a vast income gap between the major centres and the smaller communities. Do not get me wrong; the big centres do have lowincome residents, but they are not the majority, whereas the residents from the smaller communities are.

M...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the Minister for his answer. I understand it's more than the 19. The reason I'm asking this, and you talk about partnerships, in Fort Simpson last night they were talking about instructional hours. The messaging came across that this is a DEA responsibility. They're the one pushing this agenda. Then it becomes an issue of who is responsible for it. So the messaging is, as well as we tried to get it across, I understand the partnership, but we need to be able to get the message out there and need to be working together and the partners shouldn't be the ones holding...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll try to clarify it, and I apologize to the Minister if I wasn't getting my message across. We just went through two things that have been brutal, the best way to describe it. It's been bad for your department, bad for everybody. So what I'm asking you is, you're working on developing the strategy to get the messaging out. Are you willing or able to share that strategy once it's all said and done, the policy or the direction that you're developing to get messaging out with us here? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to get that information from the Minister, so I thank him for his commitment to getting that information to me. I guess my next question is: we are bringing 150 people into the territories; has the government worked with the tourism organization to expand it outside the region, to promote the Nahanni, the Delta and that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the Minister for his answer. Can he explain to us why the government or this organization bought 150 tickets to Yellowknife and not anywhere else to promote tourism? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for that answer. I guess I'm just really hoping that the Minister will work with some of the communities. I know in Fort Liard they've had proposals in the past, and it's a great opportunity for that community, too; you know, agriculture, heating, power, a whole bunch of opportunities there, and also employment.

So I greatly appreciate the Minister and his answer, and I'm looking forward to working with him on this file as we move forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair. That will be my final comment. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Previously, my honourable colleague from Frame Lake was talking about the geothermal working group. Can the Minister please advise who is on this working group? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank the Minister for her answer. That is a good step, a good start. However, I think we have lots and lots and lots of volunteers. I know that. I can see there are people out there volunteering. I don't think it is the income thing; I just think the recognition is the problem. Is the department looking at ways to help communities recognize their hardworking volunteers as the first step towards the territorial award?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, Mr. Speaker, I talked about volunteerism, and my questions will be for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. During the 2016 nomination period, how many people and organizations were nominated for the awards that the department issued? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.