Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the last couple of weeks I've tried to emphasize the positive future we have here in the Northwest Territories and have given the Cabinet some ideas to think about of how we can strengthen our potential. It seems to me we spend so much time here in this Assembly in the north and in the media talking about the negative things; talking about the hurdles and the many obstacles. The negative things are always easy to talk about. It's always easier for people to criticize other people. I think at the end of the day, we have to recognize that the Northwest Territories has tremendous potential. There are only 65,000 people in the territories. We have a wonderful opportunity to provide a tremendous future for our children. I've talked about some of the areas where we're strong and today I want to talk about some of the other areas.
Mr. Antoine made a very good statement about the possibilities of arts and crafts, using the imagination and the skills of our people; to maximize those skills and that imagination and that energy. I would like to hear more of that in this House and in the media. Let's support the people we have who are successful, who are out there doing real things, making real contributions and not whining and snivelling about every sort of real or imagined problem that we have.
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We in the Northwest Territories have very little to complain about. Our future is in our hands. I think we have every opportunity and will only be limited by our own imagination and our own energy. Here in the western Arctic we have renewed interest in oil and gas. Up and down the valley, we've talked about the mining potential. I would like to see our Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources and our Minister of
Intergovernmental Affairs take some delegations from the Northwest Territories down to Calgary. Let's talk about mining potential. Let's use this government as a vehicle and a catalyst to bring the people who will get the benefits together with those people who want to invest in the Northwest Territories.
The area of tourism...One company alone, Raven Tours, brings in 1,000 Japanese tourists a year. I would like to see Ministers of this government in Japan selling tourism to the Japanese.
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The potential at the end of the day is immense and I don't think we should shy away from spending money.
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Politicians are so afraid to spend money wisely with a good return on the dollar, afraid of criticism from their constituents that they're going to Japan. There are some amounts of money that have tremendous potential for return. I think we should be intelligent in how we spend our money, but let's start spending our money on some things that are going to give us a return at the end of the day.
I think in the area of arts and crafts...