This is page numbers 4927 - 4952 of the Hansard for the 16th Assembly, 5th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was work.

Topics

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of ITI -- Industry, Tourism and Investment -- on the film industry. I’m pleased to see that the Minister has met with representatives of the multi-media and film industry to discuss development opportunities and report the status of the promised review of the industry development and support requirements. I’m also pleased that the Minister committed to develop the terms of reference in consultation with the public. These are great moves, great progress. Can the Minister indicate yet when those draft terms of reference will be available for review?

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was quite pleased to be able to work with some of the Members from the other side to help organize a meeting with some of the northern filmmakers. I thought we had a very productive meeting and we shared concerns from all sides. I think we found a way to go forward.

We’re currently drafting terms of reference that we will share with everybody that attended and anybody else that’s interested. My expectation is that we’ll be able to get them out within a month.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

I appreciate that. I also appreciate that the Minister indicated that he would work hard to incorporate the findings of this review into the business plans. That’s my interest in the time frame. Obviously those draft business plans are due in just a few short months. Timelines for the inclusion are, therefore, pretty tight. Can the Minister say what schedule he has set or will be setting for the review to be completed and allow that to happen?

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

At the meeting we talked about trying to dovetail with the Government of the Northwest Territories business planning process and the call has gone out already. As you know, working with the new initiatives we’ve put in place a marker already. In the discussions that we had in our meeting it became quite obvious that there are different parts to filmmaking and there are different parts to it. I think as part of the terms of reference, we will be looking at all the different sectors of filmmaking. My expectation is that through a combination of existing programs and using the business planning process and concluding the review in time, that we’ll have something that has some meat that we can work together to expand the Northwest Territories film industry.

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

I appreciate, then, that the review would likely be moving towards completion by the fall so that things might move forward in the plans. I understand from industry reps that the current requirements for ITI support programs, such as the need to file three-year business forecasts, don’t recognize the reality of this industry that moves from project to project. This obviously points out the need for industry-specific programs as our sister territories have recognized. Will the Minister ensure that the unique operating conditions of this industry are, therefore, addressed in the terms of reference and any recommendations for targeted support programs?

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

It was pointed out to us a number of examples where the approach that we’re taking is resulting in missed opportunities. Certainly we’ve taken their input very seriously. We would look at expanding a film commission so that it really works and also to having people that are very familiar and have worked in the industry. Hopefully we’ll have a chance to collect an Oscar one of these years.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

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

Bob Bromley

Bob Bromley Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t think there’s any question that we’ll be collecting those. We’ve already had people down at the big…or the Juno awards or the Oscar awards, filmmakers down there from Yellowknife. We’re well on our way, and with the Minister’s support I have no doubt we’ll achieve that.

ITI’s annual publication -- my last question -- the economic review does not contain, currently, information on the value and activity of the arts and culture industry such as film and media production. I’d like to conclude here by asking the Minister if he will take steps to begin to collect the data essential to monitoring the value and development of the industry and include that in that annual publication.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

I’ll work very closely with my colleague, the Minister of ECE, and make sure that we do provide for this coverage in the appropriate places.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the commercial fishery as it relates to Great Slave Lake. I have questions for the Minister of ITI.

In my Member’s statement I failed to mention, actually, the collaborative work done by the Economic Development and Infrastructure committee as well with the Minister of ITI on this. I want to recognize them for their understanding of this situation as well.

We are now embarking on something that will be a new process for the marketing of the fish from Great Slave Lake. During this transition phase I would like to ask the Minister what the plan is for this year’s summer fishery.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The plan for this summer’s fishing industry is unchanged. We’ve just started the process of consultation in the Northwest Territories to make sure that we have input from all of the stakeholders before we make the next move, which is to formally request that we be allowed to exit the Freshwater Fish Marking Corporation.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

The documents I have indicate that this consultation process should be concluded by June 11th and then there is a

requirement of us to repeal some legislation which makes us part of the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation. I’d like to ask the Minister if he would anticipate that the repealing of that legislation could come as early as this fall.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

I don’t expect that we’ll be able to do it by as early as this fall. We still have to work out the exit arrangements from the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation. We still have to go through due diligence with this Legislative

Assembly and we still have to work with the fishermen to set up alternative processes. It’s not our expectation to replace FFMC with a son of FFMC. We would take a brand new approach which would focus on developing northern markets.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

I think that the capacity for production of fish and harvest of fish from Great Slave Lake quite far exceeds what could be absorbed by the market here in the North, although that would be a really good place to start. But going forward, one of the requirements, if our fishermen did want to export their fish beyond our NWT borders, would be a place where that fish could be inspected and processed, which would have to meet the Canadian Food Inspection Agency standards.

Mr. Speaker, right now, the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation plant in Hay River has been that facility. It is large. It is inefficient. It is hugely expensive to operate. Does the Minister foresee an opportunity for the GNWT to become involved in providing capital funding for a much smaller, more efficient place where fish could be processed to some extent and inspected for export beyond our borders? Thank you.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

My expectation is that we would have to meet with the fishermen to see where their interests lie. Obviously they don’t want to be involved with the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation, so we would have to meet with them to see what their interests are. If they’re going to operate as independent businessmen, we’d have to see what their business plans would entail. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, has the Minister given any consideration to lifting the border or export restriction to at least as far as Alberta? Would it be possible, in this transition phase while we’re trying to establish markets further afield, would a dialogue with the Alberta government, because they don’t have the big freshwater lakes that we have here in the Northwest Territories and that is quite a large market on our doorstep, would it be possible to have any discussion with the Alberta government Minister responsible about the potential for exporting our fish at least to Alberta on the interim basis? Thank you.

Bob McLeod

Bob McLeod Yellowknife South

By all means, we’d certainly be interested in talking to the Alberta government about exporting of fish from the Northwest Territories to Alberta. We would be quite prepared to move on this fairly quickly to have those discussions. Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.

Glen Abernethy

Glen Abernethy Great Slave

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Premier and are in follow up to my Member’s statement from earlier today.

The Premier established five strategic initiative committees early in the life of this government: Building Our Future, Managing This Land, Reducing the Cost of Living, Maximizing Opportunities, and Refocusing Government. Some of the reasons that these committees were created was to help the departments work together to create awareness of initiatives happening across government and in individual departments, to provide an opportunity to share information across departments and, ultimately, break down departmental silos.

Mr. Speaker, could the Premier please tell me if these five strategic initiatives committees established by the Premier continue to exist and, if so, has the membership on these committees changed, how recently, and which Members lead each of these committees? Thank you.

The Speaker

The Speaker Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. There are a number of questions there, two or three. The Premier may answer one or all of them. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The strategic initiatives committees are still used by all departments. The formats and the memberships have not changed. Thank you.