Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just have a few general comments with respect to the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment. I think that it's been a little while now since we divided the Department of RWED and so far so good. I think things are playing out as we had somewhat anticipated.
In the discussions today about the traditional economy, about the non-renewable resource development economy, there's something that has been quite noticeable by its absence, and that is any reference to renewable resource economy. I know that probably this is a sensitive issue to me, being from Hay River, because it seems to be the home of several what should be viable endeavours when it comes to commercial fishing, the harvesting of trees for forestry, and, of course agriculture. Three areas which it doesn't seem that there is much attention being paid to, but at the same time, after the non-renewable resources development extracted from the ground, if we have been successful in managing and sustaining our supply of these, and the production of these things, then we'll still have something sustainable. So I wanted to make note of those things.
When we talk about the cost of living in the Northwest Territories, too, I know agriculture is not perhaps an option in every area of the Northwest Territories, but it's an option in a lot more places than where it currently exists. I think we need to do more as a government to support the agriculture industry and see what can be accomplished out there because it is a way of offsetting imports, and it is a way of supplying affordable food and food products for northerners.
The issue that was referred to by one of my colleagues, it has to do with branding and the image of the Northwest Territories, I still think we have not been successful in coming up with a current image of the North which is marketable. I still think the Yukon and Nunavut are well-known and immediately things spring to mind when you, anywhere in Canada and probably in the world, say Nunavut or Yukon territory, something comes to one's mind. When you say the Northwest Territories, I'm not really sure what comes to mind. Perhaps, to some extent
now, it's diamonds, but I still think we've got a long ways to go in terms of developing our image and selling ourselves. We've made some progress, but I think we've got a ways to go yet.
If you listen to studies and reports on tourism, and I think we should, I think there was an extensive survey or study done on that. I believe it came out of the University of Calgary, which said what is going to be the trend in the future; and it is cultural tourism. People are moving away from the things that we formerly, perhaps, were better known for. Not everybody who comes to the Northwest Territories wants to fish something out of a lake. Not to put down sport fishing, but not everybody wants to kill a fish or shoot an animal. Some people want to come here and enjoy the beauty of the Northwest Territories, in some instances, the aurora, the surroundings, and the culture of people. That's a huge thing which I think we have done little to really prepare ourselves for or to capitalize on. Cultural tourism is the wave of the future, as far as anything that I have come in contact with, and I don't know what we're doing as a government to encourage that.
Sort of hand in glove with that cultural tourism is when people come here, they are always amazed by the beauty of the land, the beauty of the people, and then the arts and crafts that are produced in the Northwest Territories. I would say that's probably one of the most disorganized activities in terms of people being able to find access to arts and crafts. When people do go into the small communities, if you are able to find something to look at or to purchase, it's usually by luck, it's not because it's organized or well known where these things are available. I don't really have all the answers on what we can do about that, but I've been here for many, many years and I still find if I go into a community to find an artist and to find something that you can take away or something you can buy, it is still pretty scarce. It's like finding a treasure and sometimes it involves going door to door and talking to people, and it's kind of word of mouth and maybe you'll find something and maybe you won't. Hidden treasures. I mean with our pre-budget consultation I was in Fort Simpson and was looking around for something that was truly unique to Fort Simpson to sort of add to my personal collection, and after several trips from person to person and door to door I found at the seniors' complex somebody that made handmade snowshoes, a real rarity now, and made handmade drums and I was able to find that. But it was only by absolute fluke and luck that I was able to find this person or even know about it. If people want to generate economy from arts and crafts, it still has a long ways to go in terms of being organized. So those are just some of my general comments, and particularly I wanted to draw attention to fishing, forestry and agriculture, something that has been kind of obvious in its absence in the discussions perhaps here in the House and in the department's presentations of late. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.