Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I would like to make a brief statement about tourism in the western Arctic. During the 12th Assembly, a decision was made to collapse or do away with all of the regional tourism boards and agencies and to centralize them into two operations, one in the east and one in the west. Since I have been elected, Mr. Speaker, I have heard repeatedly of the attention and the concern brought to me by tourism operators in Fort Smith and Hay River that what has been done has basically taken all of the wind out of the sails, the initiative and the capability of local tourism operators to have any meaningful input into tourism and tourism decisions that are made.

With things being centralized in Yellowknife, there is a natural tendency for decisions to be made by the people here and there is a natural tendency due to centrifugal force, as we all know historically, for Yellowknife to accrue the first benefits of tourism funding. I am concerned, Mr. Speaker, maybe it is time to evaluate the decision that was made in the 12th Assembly to see how well it is working, and if it is not working as well as expected and if there are enough legitimate concerns out there, that steps be taken to, in fact, adjust the process to ensure local tourism operators do have a meaningful avenue of input into tourism decisions since we have pointed out in all of our planning that tourism is one of the key priorities of the Northwest Territories. During question period, Mr. Speaker, I will be asking the Minister of RWED about this particular issue and the need in the upcoming business planning process to take a look at the decisions that have been made in the past to see if they are still relevant today. Thank you.

--Applause