Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister promise to the youth in Nahanni Butte that they will be provided with the same recreational opportunities that all other youth of the Northwest Territories enjoy before all the students currently attending school in the Nahanni Butte have graduated? Mr. Speaker, we have a whole generation that will graduate before even getting a gymnasium. They can't even play volleyball and indoor soccer. I would like the Minister to look at getting us a gymnasium. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, during our tour this summer with the communities in Nahendeh, we had discussed this issue. We had committed that we would work with them to see what is available. The issue of a gymnasium and a standard across the board, I am not sure how many other communities don't have gymnasiums. In some communities, it is attached to the school. In this case, there is no intention for a facility to be attached to the school. There are only 25 students in the school. We would like to sit down and talk to the community about a multi-purpose hall as soon as we get a chance and look at what we can do. But, at this time, we have no plans to put in a school gymnasium. It is in the capital needs. However, as the Member has indicated, it is quite a ways down the road. It would be very difficult to move forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Mr. Speaker, I find it quite outrageous that the Minister would reference how many students are in that school when communities of even smaller sizes do have school gymnasiums. I would like to ask the Minister if he is willing to undertake a feasibility or engineering study to at least cost out this project. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we would certainly commit to looking at the options and meet with the community to talk about what we can do there, if it is feasible or viable to look at a multi-purpose hall or continue working with the youth centre or to even discuss what it would entail to put in a school gym. We certainly could commit to doing that. We will have our regional staff discuss this with the community. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I do believe that I stand firm that it certainly is one of the communities or probably the only community that still doesn't have this facility. I would like to ask the Minister, will he provide the same recreational opportunities to the students of Nahanni Butte that others have in the Northwest Territories, and will the Minister commit to undertake a feasibility or engineering study to cost out this project in this fiscal year?

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly want to indicate to the Member that the department recognizes a need for recreation infrastructure, and we encourage recreation programs. We invest a lot of money into recreation programs across the North. Not every community has a gymnasium. The process for recreation facilities has to go through the capital planning process. It has to compete with water, sewer, solid waste, and all these other infrastructure needs across the Territories. The demand is high. We have had to cut and look at ways we spend money and reallocate. So it is very difficult for me to say yes, we can commit to putting a school gymnasium in the community of Nahanni Butte. We would like to have a good discussion. We would like to look at all the options that are available. We may not be able to do a gym, but we may be able to identify something else that the community would like to do. I have indicated that I would commit to looking at the options that are available to us, including the scoping out of what it would cost for a gymnasium and present that to the community. I think I have already made that commitment. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I listened quite intently to the sessional statement the Premier gave a couple of days ago. There was something that wasn't in that. I just wanted to question the Premier today about a glaring omission from that sessional statement, and that was the fact that it didn't mention tourism.

My question isn't related to the sessional statement itself, but I have a question for the Premier. I believe that is an affront to the tourism industry in the Northwest Territories. For a government that purports to support tourism, leaving that out was definitely a mistake. I wanted to know what value Mr. Handley's government puts on tourism. Where

does it fit in the grand scheme of things with this government? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to assure the House and the public that even though we may not have mentioned some areas in the sessional statement, that does not mean it is no longer a priority. As I have said many times, most of our economy right now is based on non-renewable resource development. We have to use this opportunity to develop our renewable industries, and that includes tourism.

Mr. Speaker, I have been personally a strong advocate of the tourism industry, I remain that way and I can assure you that from our government's perspective tourism is very much a part of our economy. I wish to assure the Member and the public that that remains a high priority. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Here's where I can't get into what transpires in business plans and committee meetings and things of that nature, but I just want to ask, perhaps transferring from the Premier to the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, what his department is going to do in the coming year to address the marketing needs and the promotion of this territory to the rest of the world. What are we going to do here in the next little while? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, that question is getting very near to our business plan but, Mr. Speaker, I'll refer the question to the Minister responsible for tourism. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley, the honourable Minister of RWED, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Premier said, tourism is very important to the government and coming from our strategic plan, our 10-year plan, linked to that are a number of initiatives. We've had a good discussion around this area, both with committee and also with Caucus, and developed a number of theme areas. One of them is the diversification of the economy, and we see tourism as something that has great potential for all regions of the Northwest Territories and we can provide business opportunities for northerners from coast to coast to coast and I think that there are a number of key priorities going forward. We are currently undertaking several initiatives. One of them is some revision to our Travel and Tourism Act, and this is to streamline that act and clear up some duplication. We're also doing a product inventory with our partners at Aboriginal Business Canada and at DIAND to make sure that we have the product available and on the ground when we get people here. It doesn't make sense, I think we've realized, to drive people and to focus solely on marketing and destination marketing if, in fact, you don't have a tourism product available for people when they get here. So it's important to have both those areas covered when you are talking about tourism. The last thing that we are doing currently is working with the NWT Arctic Tourism Association to look into issues concerning the mandate of our department and that organization to make sure that there isn't duplication and to make sure that we're properly coordinated to focus on tourism most effectively with the money that we do have. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Mr. Premier and Mr. Bell, for your responses. The next question I have is when will the government actually put its money where its mouth is and actually take a look at the funding it supplies to the tourism industry and increase that funding? It hasn't happened for a number of years and if we are going to say we support the tourism industry here in the Northwest Territories, it's time to put our money where our mouth is and look at some increased funding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I'm wondering when that might happen. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Bell.