Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because I want to talk about my support for the tourism industry. Mr. Speaker, the tourism industry in the Northwest Territories is by far the largest renewable resource that we have going on up here. Mr. Speaker, tourists bring new dollars to the Northwest Territories that employ our good people. Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories is full of a vast array of natural, unique features and cultural attractions that truly draw people from around the world. Unfortunately, the tourism industry is very competitive and we have a lot of people working very hard to steal those potential tourists away from us.

Mr. Speaker, $44 million in 2002 was the amount of tourism industry dollars being spent in the Northwest Territories last year. The tourism season is year round. We have winter and spring aurora viewing for tourists to come here from as far away as Japan, and we have rubber tire traffic that rolls up in summertime for fishing, hunting and viewing our natural landscapes.

Mr. Speaker, I'm concerned that we have the world knocking on our door and, unfortunately, we've rolled up the welcome mat when it comes to our investment in the participation at the Japanese Expo this year. Mr. Speaker, over the last 10 years, our Japanese tourists coming to view one item, the aurora, have spent so much money and it's grown substantially, we are saying no to them with a meagre investment in the upcoming Expo.

Mr. Speaker, we've spent millions as a government in Spain, but where are the Spanish tourists? They're not coming. We have Japanese tourists coming every day all winter long and they're coming in huge numbers, so where is our return on their investment? Mr. Speaker, last year the Japanese spent $16 million in the Northwest Territories, and there are countless government documents that cite that. Where is our commitment?

This raises two questions and two problems at this time. What are we doing to compete when we have Fairbanks, Alaska, offering direct flights; we have the Yukon saying they can offer just as good a product, as well as Norway and who knows where else demanding for these tourists to go there. Mr. Speaker, the second problem that arises is where is our true commitment to the people that come from Japan to see our aurora.

Mr. Speaker, later today I will have appropriate questions at the appropriate time for the Minister in charge of this issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Item 3, Members' statements. Colleagues, before I go on, I would like to draw the Members' attention to the gallery. We have a guest from the Office of the Auditor General for Canada with us.

---Applause

They are Nelson Mayrand, Chris Polselli, Andrew Ross, Chauna Hanson, Stefanie King and Donna-Lee Shaw.

---Applause

Welcome to the Legislative Assembly and to the North. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize the president of the NWT Status of Women Council, Ms. Gerri Sharpe-Staples, who's in the gallery with her son Josh.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to welcome the auditors to our Assembly and I hope that they will stay for my oral question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Laughter

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize a constituent of mine and the president of the NWT Status of Women Council, Gerri Sharpe-Staples, and her son Josh. Welcome to the Assembly.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First I would like to say that I agree with the Member that there is a need for us to be ready in communities for economic development and the opportunities that will come our way from major developments. I think one of the signals that we're moving in that direction is the upcoming split of RWED and our need to be more focused on program delivery and more focused on our clients.

In terms of EDL funding, we handle this in a different manner in various different communities. Some communities do get contribution funding for the position of EDO. Some have chosen to have an RWED employee handle that responsibility. In Hay River there are a couple of RWED employees who are focused on business development, one more so toward petroleum advice and the Member spoke of that in her Member's statement. There isn't a position specific to EDO, so it's handled a little differently in Hay River.

There's also a Community Futures organization that's situated in Hay River and I think that's largely because of the amount of industrial development and the need that Hay River has. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I had indicated that we certainly do appreciate the RWED presence in Hay River. I do believe though that we need an economic development officer with a specific focus on Hay River and the various sectors which exist there now. We have not had such a position for quite some time now. I don't know if I should assume that the Minister is saying there are RWED positions there and that Hay River should not be qualified for this additional funding, but I would ask the Minister if in the other larger

communities, such as Inuvik, Fort Smith, Yellowknife, Norman Wells, are there not also economic development officers working for RWED in those communities but they also receive direct transfer for an EDO for their community? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have all of that detailed information in front of me, but I wouldn't want the Member to take my response in a negative fashion. I think we've had this discussion with committee a number of times, but around the adequacy of our economic development funding in communities. There has been some suggestion that the amount of money that we provide for EDO services in communities doesn't go far enough toward hiring people with the necessary skills to fulfill this role. I think it's something we need to review. I'd like to do it on an NWT-wide basis and I'd like to do it with the communities. I know that Hay River is not the only community with these concerns.

As I've said before, to answer the question to Inuvik, to Yellowknife, to communities like Norman Wells, they handle it in different ways. I know Norman Wells just recently, off the top of my head, has chosen to have an RWED employee deliver the services as opposed to sign a further contribution arrangement. There are options. I think we need to sit down with committee and go through those options for all communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do appreciate that response from the Minister and I do appreciate the Minister's attendance in Hay River very recently to meet with the mayor and council on economic issues and various other sectors of economic activity in Hay River. However, Mr. Speaker, time is of the essence and although a review would be a good idea to examine how RWED provides this third-party funding for EDOs would be a great idea which I would support. Time is of the essence. Hay River needs an economic development officer soon and I would like to ask the Minister if he would entertain a proposal from the Town of Hay River for EDO funding to assist the community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would agree that we are pressed for time. I know the concerns of the community. I want to ensure, as we talk about how to best resource that community and others, that an EDO position specifically focused would be the most valuable use of resources. We've had some discussion about potentially MACA's involvement with communities and some of the needs in both tax-based and non-tax-based. I think we need to move very quickly. I'm not talking about a long, drawn-out review. We need to look at our funding levels and the availability of that fund to all communities. I want to ensure, though, that we best target these dollars. If there's a better use for the funding in Hay River and it would be better put toward the community for them to use in other areas, I'd like to review those options. So certainly there is no closed door in this and we'd be willing to entertain any proposal. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is definitely a community empowerment aspect to this transfer of funding, which does grant the communities or the corporations some latitude of discretion in terms of prioritizing what their initiatives should be, and I respect that and I understand that. This is money that would flow to the municipal government of Hay River. They would then be in a position to expend their energies where they think it would be most beneficial to the economy of Hay River. So again, I would ask at this time would the Minister entertain a proposal from Hay River for such a position? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Bell.

Thank you. I would agree, that's the model. This is about community empowerment. We make contributions to communities; they agree to provide these types of services. Different communities handle it in different ways; pay their economic development officers different amounts of money. It really is up to the community. We certainly would entertain a proposal. I would indicate that we don't have this money planned in the budget for the upcoming year, but we'd be more than willing to sit down and speak with the community about the best use of any future additional monies. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.