Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The latest data that the Department of Transportation has on tickets issued under the distracted driving legislation goes until almost the end of May, and that resulted in 30 tickets being issued. As to the amount of warnings, I’d have to get that number for the Member.

I think everyone in this room and I think people listening would probably indicate that that is a fairly low number of convictions in distracted driving in the NWT. What is the Minister and the department doing to reinforce this law?

The House, the last Legislative Assembly passed that legislation. It came into force January 1st of this past year, or this

year. We have the law in place. It’s a fine of $115. It’s three demerit points. We have had a public awareness campaign, Leave the Phone Alone, through our Drive Alive program. We have efforts like that. But at the end of the day, people that still choose to use their phone… I haven’t heard the concerns that the Member brought up today in his statement. I know, speaking on a personal note, it’s made me leave my phone alone. I believe three demerit points and a fine of $115 is a real hit if you get caught using your phone while driving.

Thanks to the Minister for the comments there. Public perception seems to be polarized on the issue on the use of cell phones while driving. Too many, as we indicated, are taking the chance of not getting caught, as they’re feeling no fear of such activity. Is it time to raise the stakes? I think many of us are saying yes.

Would the Minister consider improving the safety of our territory with an amendment of the act which authorizes the removal and confiscation of the illegal and dangerous use of a mobile tool while driving?

This is fairly new legislation. The numbers that I gave the Member earlier, 30, that doesn’t include the last four or five months. We’ll get updated numbers for the Member.

But it’s like seatbelts. When seatbelts, you know, wearing a seatbelt came into force, it took the public, it took people awhile to put on a seatbelt and wear a seatbelt for safety reasons. Nowadays you do not get into a vehicle and not put a seatbelt on. I do believe that through public awareness, through enforcement, tickets being issued, people losing demerit points, I do believe that as we move forward and the legislation is in place for a while, that people will not use their phone when they’re driving. I do believe that will certainly happen.

As to an amendment to the existing Motor Vehicles Act under the distracted driving, this is the first I’ve heard of that, and that’s something obviously this government can consider.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do concur with the Minister that it’s something that we have to learn, but the behaviour has to be changed and we have to enforce that. It is our job as a government. I am pleased to see that the Minister has indicated that he will be bringing this forward for a review.

Could the Minister also offer this House his plan to address the low number of these convictions under this distracted driving legislation and provide a meaningful strategy to reduce improper road user behaviour?

If the committee asks the government to look at that, we certainly would take a look at it. Also, if I could just mention this: The RCMP isn't the only agency that enforces. By-law can also enforce the legislation. If there’s a crackdown, there’s a real effort to try and increase the number of tickets that are issued, that’s something, working with the Minister of Justice and the enforcement agencies in the territory. If that’s something that we’re interested in doing, then perhaps that’s something we could look at as well.

But certainly, it’s the Regular Members who have the prerogative. If the committee feels it necessary to have a look at the Motor Vehicles Act and wants to suggest an amendment that would look at the confiscation of cell phones if you’re caught using a cell phone while driving, we look forward to that letter.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The wellness worker position in Tsiigehtchic is a position that’s negotiated between the Beaufort-Delta Health and Social Services Authority and the local government. What I will do is make sure that I’m touching base with the local government in Tsiigehtchic to ensure that that’s what the issue is. When we had a discussion with them, they did indicate that was an issue. Then I talked to the health authority and the health authority thought that it was not an issue. I will go back and deal with that when I have an opportunity to do so.

The amount of funding provided is clearly the problem. Will the Minister provide the wellness worker position under the Department of Health and Social Services as it was done last year?

I think the Department of Health and Social Services would be prepared to look at that.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the Minister of Tourism for his Minister’s statement today. I had a couple of questions regarding his particular statement.

In his statement, he talked about 23,000 camping nights that were recorded over the territorial parks this particular year and he had also highlighted it was a slight decrease from the year before at 23,500. I guess my question really comes down to trying to get a sense of utilization of our particular parks.

Does the Minister provide a breakout as to where some of these people are coming from? I’m trying to get a context of our locals using our parks more than tourists from out of the territory. What type of percentage and analysis does the department provide?

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for the question. The predominant visitation would be in the North Slave region, of course, with Yellowknife. We do have a breakdown of where the numbers come from and I would be more than happy to provide the Member and his committee with those visitor statistics related to campground usage across the territory.

I want to thank the Minister for that particular answer. Just continuing along that same theme specific to, obviously, parks: What type of capacity does the department see in our particular parks? He did say that those numbers were predominantly reflective of the North Slave, but does the Minister’s office or the department, that is, track the actual usage and capacity of those particular parks? In other words: How many nights were 100 percent full? How many nights were 20 percent full? How many nights did we have to turn other people away to say go find another park? I know that there’s Reid Lake Park, those types of solutions. Do they do that type of breakdown? Because I want to get a sense, as we go forward, are we using our parks to the fullest capacity or do we need to expand them?

I can certainly get that level of detail for the Member. It exists. We can certainly track that and look forward to providing that information to the Member. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, what type of budget do we provide our tourism folks that specifically target the rubber tire traffic and tourism market? As we try to invest in particular parks around our surrounding communities across the territory, we must have a particular budget that we say, come to Inuvik and use that park, come to Hay River and use that park. What type of budget do we spend, and that is reflected to the return on investment with the numbers and links to my very first question, where are people coming from? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we do have that information. Again, that is very detailed information. We have the Northwest Territories Tourism that provides the marketing for the Northwest Territories. We also have staff here in Yellowknife and in the regions to get to the dollars that are spent specifically on promoting rubber tire traffic to the campgrounds to the Northwest Territories. Again, that is a number that I will get to

the Member and break it down by region for the Member as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for those several commitments that are through those questions.

The last particular question is quite a simple one. What type of planning is the Department of ITI doing in the sense of expanding the Fred Henne Park area? I say that in conjunction with the Department on Transportation. As we all know, it is putting a road through the realignment of Highway No. 4, there becomes a great opportunity to expand the usage of Fred Henne. Does the Minister have any future commitments that are going to build on the growth of Fred Henne by way of a capital investment? Thank you.