Mr. Chairman, I move that $100,000 will be deleted from the economic development activity under the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, operations expenditures, not previously authorized on page 10, for the provision of funding for a trade mission to China. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Motion is on the floor. Motion is being distributed out to the committee. Motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Braden.

Can I ask committee to keep to the motion? To the motion.

Thank you. Wow, I have the floor. Thank you very much. We can't ask questions. I had my hand up to ask questions when it was still being called as an item on the paper, but I guess we went to the motion instead. Anyway, I have questions that nobody is going to answer, but let me ask them anyway.

If we can have all the details in half an hour, why couldn't we have it when...I am yelling in my own ear here. Why couldn't we have had it in the last three days if we could have them in a half an hour? If we only have to wait half an hour to get the answers to the questions, I say we wait for half an hour to get the answers. I don't think this is a $100,000 trip, for everyone's information. This is a $200,000 trip. I think there is another $100,000 coming from somewhere. I would like to put that in a question, but I will put it in a statement. I think this is a $200,000 trip. Furthermore, how did you select the people who are going? Of course, I am all for tourism and I am all for aurora viewing and I am all for NTCL, the shipping from Asia. I am a supporter of all that stuff.

I went on a trade mission once to Germany. The government paid for translation, they paid for some of the logistics and that, but operators all had an equal chance to participate by contributing to the cost, it was a cost-shared thing. Then more people got to go. I don't have any sense -- because I haven't had a chance to check this out -- but there might have been other tourist operators in the Northwest Territories involved in lodges and outfitting and aurora viewing who might have been interested in doing this. How was this particular group, and this group only, selected to go on a $200,000 trip to China? Why are we doing this now? There have been years of preparation go into this. Why aren't we doing this in the new government? Why are we rushing off now during election period when people like the chair of the Governance and Economic Development committee can't go? Even the MLAs might be interested in this particular thing. They might have constituents involved in activities who might want to go. I am not a big international traveler myself personally, but that doesn't mean there aren't other Members of the Assembly who might have wanted to attend this.

Anyway, $200,000 is a lot of money and somebody pointed it out the other day in committee that there are other NGOs struggling here. Mr. McLeod mentioned a few in Inuvik that were short of funds. Think of $200,000 and we can't even get information. Anyway, I think we should get information. Call a break, postpone. Thank you. No.

Thank you. To the motion. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am going to be voting against the motion. As far as I am concerned, if the communication plan didn't work out in this particular case, I don't want to put the whole plan at risk. We should write maybe a strongly worded letter, but the bottom line is if we put our industries at risk, take our aurora industry, they are barely surviving as it is and here they are trying to open up new markets. For over three and a half years, I have been saying let's find new opportunities and try to expand it. Yet, here we are saying no when they are looking at a new opportunity and trying to build some bridges. As far as I am concerned, if we can get everybody working, it will help support the investment we have here on the ground.

As far as transportation logistics, I have even heard of the mini airline groups' interest in this opportunity. Although it doesn't sound like it from Minister Bell's description when he said NTCL is going, that doesn't sound like one of the airlines. But at the end of the day, I would encourage him to reconsider so we can get some airline groups in there.

As far as I am concerned, I think it has merit and it's a mistake to say no. I think it's okay to put more demands on this and find a way to get those demands realized, but the fact is saying no to this opportunity right now may be a mistake when our tourism industry is hemorrhaging in the sense of lost opportunities. It wasn't that long ago we were losing the hunting of caribou and now aurora is falling apart. How much more of our tourism industry do we have to lose before someone realizes its tomorrow's opportunity? So we need to be doing that today. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. To the motion. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be quick on this. Like Mr. Hawkins says, in the absence of information, it's so difficult to make a decision. I have constituents who are interested in the tourism and industry side of this. I really don't know what I am turning down if I vote in favour or the motion and turn down $100,000 and the trade mission gets scuttled. I have no idea what I am turning down. It's not fair to us, as decision-makers, to put us in a position where we have to turn something down not knowing all the details.

So, Mr. Chairman, I don't know. This is an interesting one, but I am going to have to vote in favour of the motion because the government just has not provided us with the level of detail I am comfortable with. I don't think the work is going to be wasted because it can just be transferred over. The government is officially over on the 30^th of August or 31^st of August. A new government is coming in after October 1^st. The work that was done by ITI staff and the existing staff surely is not going to go to waste. It's only another eight weeks, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

To the motion. Mr. Yakeleya.

Mr. Chair, the comments are probably similar to mine and Mr. Ramsay's. The trade mission is with Industry, Tourism and Investment. I, myself, don't have enough information in terms of this trade mission. You know Husky Energy has invested in the Sahtu region. Husky Energy is closely related to the productions in China. There is tourism in our region that needs to be looked at.

I don't know. I don't have the information. I don't know who is going or for how long. This is new. I am having a very difficult time supporting this here. I am going to have to support the motion as we go forward. So I need some information and I do not appreciate this and asking us to give you a blank cheque for $100,000 like this one here. Give me the goods. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. To the motion. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, this is another good example of the lack of communications sometimes between Cabinet and Members on this side. We are asked to vote on a motion and we don't know the details of the motion. We are scrambling down on this side trying to figure out who is going, what is going to happen at the end of this Legislative Assembly. So you come forward and you ask us to approve something. If we are just going to approve anything that is put before us, let's approve this and be done with it. But we are put there to question things and if we have concerns and legitimate concerns, this is my understanding of supposed consensus government where we get some input into what is going on so, like Norman said, we can make an educated decision. But to come before us and say you need $100,000 for a trade mission to China without providing details isn't good enough for me. So that being said, I am going to support this motion if we decide to go ahead today. If they want to do it in the 16^th Assembly, they can send somebody to China then. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chairman, this is information that was requested a while back, two days ago. Now we are scrambling around, like everybody else is saying. I think it's critical that we get advanced information. We wouldn't be going through what we are going through now, waiting. We are asking questions here and nothing has been provided at this time. Some Ministers are getting information as we speak. This was a major decision you are making here. Whether it be $100,000 or $200,000, that is a lot of money that could also go to communities. Without backup documentation, it's hard for me as a Regular MLA to approve it or to go against it. I need detailed information that breaks down attendees or expenditures, who is going or who is meeting with who, departure dates, an itinerary and so forth. So I just want to reiterate what other Members have been saying here. We do need the documentation as a backup to make our decision, Mr. Chair. Without information, I would have to support the information that is in front of us. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Villeneuve.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I also wanted to speak in support of this motion. It's simply due to the fact of all the reasons Members have provided today, but also one big reason is due to the recent developments in the outfitting industry relating to caribou harvesting for outfitters. I think there is money to be put towards assisting outfitters dealing with the shortage of tags they have been allocated for this year and next year and years to come. If they had this $100,000 or $200,000 and used it to promote their own ecotourism initiatives, whether it be in China, Japan or anywhere else in the world, it would be put to better use and we would get better bang for our buck if we directed the money towards the people that are in the front line of tourism, which are the outfitters. That is why I support this motion. I have no information. Thank you.

Thank you. To the motion. Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just briefly, although we were provided some information, a lot of information isn't before us with regard to the trip to China. I think it's important that although the mission seems like it would be a good one, I think at this time, without the information required, I will have trouble supporting the motion. Thank you.

To the motion.

Question is being called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is defeated.

---Defeated

Thank you, committee. Industry, Tourism and Investment, operations expenditures, page 10, economic development, $3.083 million, total department, $3.083 million.