Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to start off by congratulating the Minister for, in his opening remarks, committing as a priority to explore a revenue neutral beverage container recovery program. I heard about this several times in the past year, particularly around election time from constituents who thought that we should be doing something in this area and I did commit to them that I would do my best to encourage the government to follow up on it. So I would just like to compliment the Minister on taking that as a priority and encourage him to conclude the development of the program this year and ensure that we have one in place for next year.
One of the other points that the Minister talked about as a priority in his opening comments was the development of a tourism strategy for the Northwest Territories. I know, I think, the Minister has heard from a number of Members in this House already that we think this strategy is long overdue. I too think it is long overdue.
I really have to say that I am somewhat disappointed by the commitment that has been shown by the department to tourism. I think that if we really did have that commitment, while the cutbacks have been pretty broad through government, I would argue that over the past four or five years, the cuts to tourism have been disproportionate within this department in comparison to other areas.
So I do not think it is any surprise now when the Minister of Finance proposes a five percent hotel tax in order to get some money to market tourism, that some operators are going to come out in favour of that. They have been beaten down and ignored for so long that they are willing to grasp at anything, no matter how punishing to the industry to try and help out.
I really think that in a $75 million budget, finding $1 million, if that is what we are talking about in terms of net money, to more properly promote tourism to the Northwest Territories, to get the promotion back up to the level that it has been in the past, would be something that should be done within. I think that we should recognize the priority there and try and work from within, rather than looking only to be able to do it with money from outside.
One other sort of general comment that I would like to make is in economic development. I think that, certainly from the constituents who I know have worked with the department, there has been a feeling that they have been able to access the programs reasonably. So I would like to say that I congratulate the department for having a pretty good reputation among people who I know who have tried to access programs.
The department does seem to have been fairly responsive in that area. The one thing I would wonder about is whether or not there is a conscious decision when you are looking at economic development programs within the department to put a certain amount of money into the small capital projects as opposed to the larger ones.
The reason I ask that is that I think that we have seen in the past some tremendous successes with small programs where people could get $5,000 to $7,000 to help them bring their equipment up to a certain standard or to invest in some equipment that would get them into, perhaps not a real business, but an occupation that they might be able to undertake, whether that is fishing or trapping or something, that helps them become more self-reliant.
So perhaps if the Minister could advise, is there a clear distinction between the small capital programs and the larger programs? Do we maintain some funds so that there is always some money available for the smaller programs?