Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday in the House I had questions for the Minister of RWED about the need to have a plan to diversify our economy, Mr. Speaker. I think it's critical that we ensure that we don't put all of our economic eggs in one basket.

But I think one of the things that can really be the pillar of a strong economy, and it's something that we've had a lot of discussion about, is the tourism industry. Unfortunately over the last few years there have been a cascade of events, starting with 9-11, the war in Iraq, SARS, mad cow; a number of events that have hurt tourism in North America, hurt tourism in Canada and certainly, by extrapolation, in the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, when it comes to international travelers, many of us would recognize that they don't simply leave their international jurisdiction and end up in the Northwest Territories. They have to come through southern Canada. So if southern Canada is having problems, if there are travel advisories out because we are dealing with a SARS epidemic in Toronto, people from overseas oftentimes don't make the distinction and don't realize that Toronto isn't in fact all of Canada. It affects us, certainly, Mr. Speaker, in the Northwest Territories.

I know many of my colleagues and I have been working late recently, but if they've had the chance to look at the sky, they've seen a beautiful natural phenomenon that we're so lucky to have, and that's the northern lights. But, Mr. Speaker, the tourism industry that has been built up around this natural phenomenon can be a fickle one, and we have seen it seriously impacted and seriously affected by these events of late. It's important that government does what it can to work with industry to try to bring this and other tourism industry back to the Territories. We need to work with industry to make sure that we help to develop product. After all, we have to have something for people to do and to see and to partake in when they do come to the North. We know that if you look at other natural phenomenons like the Rocky Mountains, Mr. Speaker, there has been product, there has been an industry developed around something beautiful like that, but it doesn't happen by accident and it doesn't happen without government support.

We can ensure that the entire Northwest Territories is included because we can focus on destination awareness, we can focus on the Northwest Territories as a desirable destination to visit. I think it's timely and I think we have to keep the pressure on the federal government to recognize that we, too, have been seriously impacted by negative events; our tour operators, our hotels, our restaurants, our airlines. It hasn't been just Toronto. We need to continue to send this message to the federal government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause