I have a second return, Mr. Speaker. This was asked by Mr. Antoine on April 10th with respect to the status of zone associations.

I tabled the executive summary of the NWT Tourist Association review on April 12, 1995. In order to complete the report, extensive consultations were held throughout the Northwest Territories. To obtain information on views, 187 letters and 238 facsimiles were sent to operators. Most zone managers also informed their membership of the process, while community liaison contacts hired by the consultant informed communities and interest groups through radio announcements, posters and personal telephone calls.

The consultant and association visited each of the zones and over 100 operators and interested group representatives attended one or more meetings. Individual operators were interviewed, as were government officials, zone managers, zone presidents and some board members. Written and/or oral submissions were welcome. In total, over 200 people had input into the study results through the interview process or by written communication.

In the Deh Cho area specifically, communication was sent to all licensed operators, a widely-advertised public meeting was held at Fort Simpson Visitors' Centre on March 20th. The local zone manager was advised several weeks in advance of the meeting and arrangements were made to hold it in the evening to allow for maximum attendance. The meeting was open to all. Pardon me, the meeting was open to all community representatives from Fort Simpson, Fort Liard, Trout Lake, Jean Marie River. Community representatives from Wrigley could not attend because of weather and Nahanni Butte was not represented partly because no one wanted to attend. The Nahanni Ram Tourism Association was also represented at the meeting. The regional office in Fort Simpson offered financial assistance to representatives from outlying communities who wanted to attend.

In addition to the public meeting in Fort Simpson, the consultant met with departmental staff, interested operators, the zone manager and president. A breakfast meeting was also held with seven members of the town council of Fort Simpson. Thank you.