Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. When it comes to tourism, I think, especially in my riding, I always couple it with Highway No. 7, surprisingly. First of all I would like to thank the Minister for our recent trip to Fort Liard and actually driving Highway No. 7 and into Fort Simpson and meeting the leadership. I really appreciate that and I have a Member’s statement for later on in the week. Constituents are very, very happy that he took the time and effort to come and see and feel Highway No. 7, as well as listen to the different tourism related concerns that are tied directly to Highway No. 7. I’m really pleased about that.

Years ago we used to have an initiative by ITI where I think there was a diamond given for driving the loop including the Deh Cho Trail. I didn’t see any reference to that in the opening remarks. It’s initiatives and supporting initiatives like that that pays attention to people doing the loop.

I think Mr. Ted Grant’s discussions, as well, where he indicated that years ago we used to have up to 20 bus tours per year going into Fort Simpson and now we’re down to zero. It’s all related to Highway No. 7.

I’ve been trying to make the case that Highway No. 7 is not a maintenance issue. It’s about cost of living as well. Providers that run the stores there, the trucking companies refuse to go down Highway No. 7. Suppliers from Hay River are actually driving through Grande Prairie to get to Fort Liard to deliver their freight. Whether or not the road is good or not, they just refuse to travel down only because of the horror stories that are real on that. As well, people that make a living, the trucking companies, the medical escort transportation companies, the mail companies really, really have an impact on driving Highway No. 7.

I have to reference Mr. Ted Grant again because he’s such a well-known advocate of tourism

territorially and nationally. He does travel far and wide to trade shows in Europe and people actually phone him in Fort Simpson from Europe, the tourism and travel agencies, to see the conditions of Highway No. 7. He has to be frank and open with them that it’s in very poor shape. People are just refusing to come down it. As well as the people that drive it with their motorhomes, the daring one or two that actually do it. What happens there is they let their friends know. They get asked how their trip was.

All in all I’ve raised it enough times there, but having a loop to travel around would go a long ways in stimulating the whole of the Northwest Territories and supporting all our arts and crafts industries along the way. As it is now, tour bus operators don’t want to drive five hours down towards Fort Simpson and then turn around and do the same drive back to the same highway system for another four hours that they’ve already been on. It’s always best to have a loop and hopefully we’ll certainly work towards that.

Those are just my opening comments. Mahsi cho.