The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 3, Members' statements. Member for Yellowknife Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Sandy Lee Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to speak about the second annual Power Up young women's conference that was held in Yellowknife on February 3rd, organized by Skills Canada NWT and Nunavut. The idea behind this fantastic event is to have Grade 8 girls from schools across the NWT and Nunavut meet female mentors that work in non-traditional trades and occupations. The girls get to network, talk to their mentors about their careers and take part in hands-on workshops. This year 235 girls from 17 communities in the North attended the conference. I also attended the conference, as a mentor, Mr. Speaker. This is the second year I have done this and I cannot stress enough how valuable an event like this is for our young women.

Not too long ago, many young women did not actually consider the option of a career as a pilot, a carpenter, an aircraft maintenance engineer or a firefighter. These were just not things that came to a girl's mind when she was contemplating career choices. Fortunately, times have changed and these young women's conferences are helping to change them. We know, Mr. Speaker, that there are all kinds of career possibilities out there for those young women, they just need to learn and become more aware of what those are. The event gives them a host of career choices they may have never considered and it allows them to meet and talk with the female mentors in these professions.

I should also note, Mr. Speaker, that on February 10th, a young men's conference was held for the first time. Mr. Speaker, I thought the event last year was fantastic, but the event this year had gone up a whole new level. Knowing the organizers, I know it will get even better next year and that is attributable to the small staff at the NWT/Nunavut Skills Canada office in Yellowknife. The hard work of executive director Allyson Stroeder and her able assistants, Barb Kardash and Erin Mohr. They are the ones who got the numerous sponsors on side, found the mentors and volunteers to help out, and dealt with the logistics of hosting over 200 young women for a one-day event in Yellowknife. These ladies deserve a big pat on the back for their hard work.

Mr. Speaker, I know we have a real skills shortage in our territory right now and our young women can be whatever they want to be. I applaud the young women's conference for doing so much to spread this message. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Item 3, Members' statements. Member for Yellowknife Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Bill Braden Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to draw attention to something I am sure Yellowknifers and people across the Northwest Territories are going to be hearing more about in the coming months and years, and that is the movement in the tourism industry towards something called cultural tourism.

The Aurora Arts Society, Mr. Speaker, a group of volunteers here in Yellowknife from the arts and music community, came together over the last couple of years and with the assistance from our government -- I know RWED was a supporter -- has done an extensive research project and development piece here, which has laid the groundwork in the capital city for this exciting new approach.

Cultural tourism is something that in the modern tourism industry, Mr. Speaker, is a business as defined by our group here in Yellowknife: fostering, promoting, developing, and delivering year-round activities that reflect the unique arts and multicultural heritage of our community. This goes beyond what we might consider our traditional or usual ideas of culture or heritage. This goes into the history, the complexion, the stories and backgrounds of our entire region. Here in Yellowknife and in the North Slave, we have a history in aviation, in mining and in transportation, as well as the Aboriginal and other cultural communities that are part of this region, Mr. Speaker.

As a result of this study, community leaders in the business and in the arts community from Aboriginal and other levels are coming together. They are looking at this as a way for the tourism industry to really come into its own and mature and grow. Mr. Speaker, I am really pleased to see this because this really is a way for us to put a whole bunch of advantages and products and ideas together and really make them work together. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Item 3, Members' statements. Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bell.

Brendan Bell Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wanted to take this opportunity to respond in part to the Minister of Health's statement, "Taking Action On Tobacco". I think that certainly there are many government initiatives, but this one correctly identifies the problem, Mr. Speaker. The Minister has said that we know our smoking rates are too high, particularly in our youth and young adults, alarmingly too high, higher than most of the country, Mr. Speaker. It talks about what we might be able to do in order to take on that challenge and try to turn the tide on smoking. I think one of the important initiatives is legislation that will prevent smoking in public buildings and in the workplace. I see the Minister has indicated Ms. Crowe is coming to the North to tell her story and I know it is a compelling story of her lung cancer and it's attribution to secondhand smoke in the workplace.

But, I think there is another important piece here, Mr. Speaker, besides legislation, which will be important, despite the fact already that you could make the case that it is a harmful substance and doesn't have any place in the workplace -- and possibly Worker's Compensation and insurance should take that into account -- but I think programming is the other key piece, Mr. Speaker. This is something, I think, over the years where this government, not unlike many other governments, has really fallen down. Where we have come up short, Mr. Speaker, is in having a comprehensive plan that is linked across departments.

This is not solely the responsibility of the Department of Health, Education has a large role to play and certainly the Ministry of Youth has a large role to play. This is a department, the Ministry of Youth, that we set up and created some three years ago and to this point, in my mind, it has simply paid nothing but lip service to this. There is no budget for the Ministry of Youth and a lot of these initiatives could be tied in under this department. We talk about developing an anti-tobacco component in the NWT school health curriculum. That's a very good idea but we can't do that while at the same time, not promoting physical education in all of our schools and making sure that is a priority.

We have a great opportunity here at this time with Canada Winter games going on, Mr. Speaker, to use some of the role models and athletes who certainly are heroes to our young people, have them tell their story. I find it amazing to believe that someone can be competitive at that level and smoking at the same time. I'm sure it is not the case, Mr. Speaker. So I urge the department to work with other departments in developing the initiative. Let's not make the same mistakes we've been making for the last 10 years. Thank you.

---Applause

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Item 3, Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, oral questions. Mr. Dent.

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't have all the details or background of the lack of our participation in this particular program. However, we are looking at revitalizing our discussions with government to see if we can't participate in renewal of this particular program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Charles Dent Frame Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if the Minister cannot tell us why we haven't participated in it, can I ask the Minister to commit to tabling in this House the reasons for the GNWT not having signed onto the existing agreement?

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

Mr. Speaker, I understand that part of the reason for not participating in this particular program is that it is per capita based and again it recovered from our particular transfer payments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.