Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I raised a question May 1st with regard to funding to the tourism training program with the Premier. At this time, I would like to ask the question to the Minister of Economic Development and Tourism. My question is regarding the possible cuts in the area of training.
The NWT Tourism Training Group has been in place for four years. It was established by the NWT Tourism Association. As you know, there is now a new establishment of tour operators which consists of an eastern tourism group and also a western tourism group. With tourism being one of the fastest-growing industries in the world and if we want to compete with other tour operators, we have to have trained and qualified individuals. Right now, the only arm for the tourism association is the NWT Tourism Training Group.
In 1995, the NWT Tourism Training Group submitted a proposal to the Department of Economic Development and Tourism for $285,000 to administer and operate programs in the Northwest Territories, which includes the East and the West. In April 1996, they received a response back to their proposal, in which they were allocated $175,000, which was broken down based on percentages; 40 per cent of those dollars will go to the eastern tourism association and 60 per cent to the West. Those resources which have been allocated, the group may have to close its doors and not be able to operate in this next fiscal year. At the present time, it does have contract obligations to Arctic College to deliver programs for next year based on the $285,000 figure. My question is, will he reconsider the offer and sit down with this group to resolve this, so that both groups can continue to operate in the future. Thank you.