Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Braden.

You know, I think that about does it, Mr. Chairman. I am done. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden.

Detail. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just one more point and it's on tourism. It's with regard to the investment the government is making at Expo 2005 on aurora tourism along with, I hope, other tourism promotions. I am not going to comment on whether or not $500,000 is good money or not enough money. I definitely believe that this government is not spending enough money on tourism, but that's for another day. While Yellowknife is very well located in terms of aurora viewing and I think that has been the essential component of the success because when aurora visitors come to Yellowknife, they have almost 100 percent chance of seeing aurora over a three to four-day period, something that's not possible in other parts of the world, I understand, where aurora can be seen.

At the same time, Mr. Chairman, I have seen ads promoting aurora that read and the pictures looked like the Northwest Territories, but when you look at the fine print it could be northern Alberta or northern Newfoundland or any other parts where aurora viewing is possible, just not as good as Yellowknife.

I worked at expo in 1993 in Asia, and for lots of people in that part of the world, Canada is Canada. It's really hard to grasp the...Hey, be quiet. Sorry. In that part of the world, it's hard for them to distinguish between northern NWT versus northern Alberta. For us it's very clear, but not there. It's important that in whatever important promotion material we provide or whatever pitch we do in terms of presentations and everything else that goes on, it is really important that we make ourselves be distinguished. I was curious about what the government has in place to make sure this gets done. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We believe expo is the ideal venue to create and to further work on a lot of the exposure that the aurora industry has gained in Japan. Really, we clearly have a foothold now in terms of awareness and it's important for us to build on that and it's hard to imagine a more appropriate or adequate venue than this expo. So with that in mind, as we put together this program, we are very cognizant of that.

I think the future of this industry is broader than just Yellowknife. We are starting to see some activity in Fort Smith and in Hay River as well. I know that some of the Yellowknife operators are also looking at tours outside of Yellowknife because people are looking for a different experience, not everybody is looking for that urban experience. Many people are looking to go off the beaten path. I think we can give them that opportunity here and it's just really a matter of supporting our communities to develop the infrastructure that has started to be created here in Yellowknife.

So we think this expo is going to drive increased opportunities for product development in a number of communities. The hard part really is driving people to the Northwest Territories. I think we are really seeing a rebound if the passenger numbers that we just anecdotally see when we go to the airport...I was there yesterday evening at 9:20 and you couldn't move in the terminal building in Yellowknife with the number of Japanese passengers. The task now is to ensure that that filters out of the main airport and main centre into other communities in the North. That's our challenge. We will have to be focussed on that as we support product development in other communities.

I think this expo is a wonderful opportunity to drive increased traffic to the North, and we have to get them here first for this to be a reality. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I couldn't disagree with the Minister's statement that we have to get them here. I am just wondering what we are doing to get them here. We could group the NWT as a whole and get people to Smith or Hay River. I can just imagine the Japanese tourists would be ecstatic to be in Nahanni Butte or Colville Lake. I couldn't imagine anything more beautiful. Let's just put the NWT as a group, but how do we distinguish the characteristics of the NWT versus northern Alberta, northern Saskatchewan, Newfoundland, northern Ontario? There are many parts of the country where aurora can be seen and the challenge is to leave that impression on the minds of hundreds and thousands of visitors who are going to go through the pavilion for them to remember that if they want to go to Canada, not only Canada but the Northwest Territories, to see aurora and not Fort McMurray or somewhere in northern Saskatchewan. I tell you, when you are sitting in that part of the world, that's a pretty fine distinction that takes a lot of effort to make into reality and make it more visible. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Very good question. I think this government, a number of years back, made the determination that it was best to work with an industry organization, and that is the NWT Tourism

Association now, in terms of understanding how we best market the Northwest Territories as a destination. We've had a bit of discussion around the budget and I know we'd like to see more investment in tourism, but it has gone from $1.2 million in 2003-04 to $1.8 million this year. So we are making improvements in that area, but these folks who constitute that board are involved in the tourism industry. We believe they are experts in branding, and this is something that in our current system we believe is best handled by this association as opposed to government. Government has a role to play, but we think it's more in terms of working to develop product and working with some of the businesses in the Northwest Territories.

We also invested last year, as the Member will remember, $250,000 in the Aurora Recovery Program, which worked to brand the Northwest Territories as a destination for aurora in Japan. That project was very successful in levering additional industry and federal government money through the CTC, the Canadian Tourism Council. I think that raised almost $1 million to be put towards the aurora tourism industry and creating interest and a presence in Japan.

So I think we've done a number of things, but all of our efforts, which are led by NWT Tourism, do focus on the Northwest Territories specifically and they are working very hard to brand the Northwest Territories as a destination and create that separation from other organizations. I can assure you that they are playing on our strengths and looking to differentiate our offering from that of other competitors. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don't believe I got the information I was looking for. How much of that $500,000 allocated for expo will be invested to the tourism industry directly? The Minister indicated that this government decided long ago that it's the industry that knows best. So perhaps the round about way of getting that answer is to see where we are spending that little money we have allocated for expo to the industry, so they can go and do the job they are best at doing, which is to sell the NWT as a unique and distinguishable product. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I certainly understand what the Member is getting at here and my initial reactions, when thinking about planning this expo, was to approach the ED for NWT Tourism and talk about who would be best to lead this effort in Japan. We talked about the potential $500,000 budget at that time. I didn't have the money approved, but his indication to me was the department had more of the resources and support services and would be better able to lead the project, but they wanted to play a key support role and be involved in the decisions and direction in terms of destination marketing.

So we do have the acting president sitting on the advisory committee, to myself and Co-chair Groenewegen. We have the executive director who sits on our ADM committee that really is the working level committee providing direction to our expo effort. In terms of the $500,000, there are no contributions in that. That is the base budget that we are using for hiring the contractors, the travel and the week-long show that we are putting on. As I indicated earlier, we are looking to the private sector for partnerships. We expect that the NWT Tourism folks have already indicated their interest in hosting a specific event in partnership with us. So they are playing a role on many fronts, but they are key in advising us and directing us on how best to present ourselves at expo. So their input is very important and we are certainly using it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mr. Chairman, I move that we report progress.

There is a motion to report progress. The motion is in order. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

I will rise and report progress. Thank you, Mr. Minister. Thank you, Mr. Vician and Mr. Kennedy, for your attendance this evening. Thank you.

Item 20, report of Committee of the Whole. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Bill 19, Appropriation Act, 2005-2006, and Committee Report 10-15(3) and would like to report progress, and, Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of Committee of the Whole be concurred with.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Do I have a seconder for the motion? The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden. The motion is in order. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Before we go any further, Members, I would just like to mention that our ladies curling team that is at the Scott Tournament of Hearts is sitting with a record of three wins/two losses after a 10/6 win over Ontario today.

---Applause

Item 21, third reading of bills. Mr. Clerk, orders of the day.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Accordingly, this House stands adjourned until February 22, 2005, at 1:30 p.m.

---ADJOURNMENT

The House adjourned at 7:38 p.m.