Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to follow up on my statement on tourism whereas there are potential reductions. I’d like to ask the Minister of ITI, being that tourism

is one of the NWT’s highest goals and objectives, I’m surprised that we will be facing some reductions. I’m just wondering why we are heading in this direction when we should be supporting and enhancing the tourism sector.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. David Ramsay.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for the question. Certainly we heard the Finance Minister with his budget address earlier today, we’re trying to maintain what we have as a government. We’re spending $10.4 million on tourism and we do have the Tourism 2015 plan where we’ve got $1 million earmarked annually specific to some marketing initiatives and also Aboriginal tourism initiatives across the territory. We do need to look for ways as we go forward and our revenues do grow, look for opportunities to get some more money into marketing and product development here in the Northwest Territories. I see us advancing this. I see Tourism 2015 as a way we can do that.

Certainly if we look at our neighbours in the Yukon, their marketing budget is much more than ours but at some point in time there will be a highway down the Mackenzie Valley and our transportation infrastructure will be to a degree where we will see increased tourism traffic here in the Northwest Territories and our budgets will increase accordingly. Thank you.

If the Minister is talking about increased volumes, then it certainly has been increased in the last few years and yet we’re faced with some reductions in our tourism budget. I just don’t see it and my constituents don’t see it. Every little dollar helps our NWT economy, Mr. Speaker.

Once again, I’d like to ask the Minister what prompted him to reduce our budgets. It’s been increasing in the nine years that I’ve been MLA and now this is the first time I’ve seen our tourism budget reduced, Mr. Speaker.

I wasn’t aware that we were reducing the budgets in tourism. Over the past five years we’ve also come up with $5.6 million in the Tourism Product Diversification funding. Again, this year, in this budget there is $10.4 million earmarked for tourism.

Again, maybe the Member could just clarify where he believes the reductions are coming, because I haven’t seen any reductions and I don’t believe we’re reducing in any area in regard to tourism. Thank you.

Before I began this discussion, I had a discussion with our staff, and I’ll try to stay away from the budget numbers there, but certainly I will be raising it more specifically in Committee of the Whole. The overarching thing is the concern

that there is a reduction of about $300,000 there, Mr. Speaker. However, there is also some passive restraint going on with the NWT tourism. There’s $400,000 being held back and that’s creating concern for the people that depend on this, on government funding and the support.

Once again, I’d like to ask the Minister how is it that our government continues to repress our tourism budget when they’re there saying that they support tourism. Thank you.

We will get to the detail that the Member is talking about, but certainly the message from this government is that we support tourism. Again, it’s $10.4 million, and as we go forward I think it’s very important that we find more money to go into marketing initiatives.

We’ve had a great deal of success working with our neighbours, Nunavut and the Yukon, on a pan-territorial approach. I see that continuing as we go forward. We need to find other ways to market the Northwest Territories. I believe as revenues increase and opportunities present themselves, we should take advantage of those opportunities.

Certainly, we support tourism. As the Member mentioned in his opening statement today, tourism has the potential to provide some real economic activity in every one of our 33 communities in the Northwest Territories and that’s something that’s not lost on the government.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m just following up in regard to my Member’s statement. With the Forging the Future Youth Conference reporting, 42 youth from across the Northwest Territories got together last summer and they came up with a bunch of recommendations and talked about all the issues that we talk about in this House. It was an initiative from the former Premier and the former Minister of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations. My question today is for our newly elected Premier and Minister of DAAIR. Is he familiar with the report and is he familiar with the recommendations that are in this report, and is he familiar with those recommendations? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m very familiar with the report that the Member is referring to, although it was undertaken in the previous Assembly, in the 16th Assembly. But with

your new approach, we are definitely following up

on the recommendations that were put forward in the 16th Assembly. Thank you.

There are two specific recommendations. One is for an end goal of getting a treatment centre that’s culturally sensitive with multicultural staff, trained professionals, unique treatment plans for youth, adults and elders, as well as a recovery support program, something that we are lacking in this territory. As well, they made a recommendation to place a qualified school counsellor and mentor in every school to help them achieve their goal of graduating high school. With the Minister of DAAIR familiar with those recommendations, when can we see those recommendations be put into action that will help our youth succeed and also our adults and our seniors as well?

As in any good government, we put our own stamp and our own brand on those two recommendations, and those were identified as priorities by this 17th Assembly, although perhaps

under a different name or a different recommendation.

With regard to the treatment centres recommendation, we are actively working on that and our Minister of Health and Social Services will be tabling a Mental Health and Addictions Strategy very soon.

With regard to a counsellor for every school, we have recognized that, as well, as an area that we need to look at, and through our Aboriginal Student Initiative we are looking at what we can do for every school in the Northwest Territories.

As recognized, this was an initiative put on by the former Minister and Premier. I just wanted to ask the Premier if he’s willing to continue working on such a document and such a very strong initiative with our youth leaders in this government to continue on such a great project. That it’s not a one year thing and that we continue to work with our youth and listen to our youth in how we can work to better a future for everyone.

We are always looking to become more effective and efficient, and we do have youth as a priority, and we will continue to find ways to interact with the youth and to make sure that their voices are heard.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Youth is always a priority; however, it did not get on the document for our caucus priorities, which I made a Member’s statement early on in the government about committing to the youth that we’re still going to work in their best interests. It’s nice to hear those comments from the Premier. What I didn’t hear was the commitment that he’ll continue working with the document to bring youth together and possibly

working with other departments, interdepartmental governments. Can I get a strong commitment from the Premier on this? Thank you.

Although perhaps it didn’t make it on the priority list, this is part of the ongoing work that this government does that we work with youth. Normally, we would like to have our own brand, so we would continue to work with youth and perhaps not under the auspices of what was done in the 16th Assembly, but I would expect that we

would want to work with something, perhaps a better, more improved version, I would like to think, so we would commit to continue to working with the youth.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and I’d like to follow up on my statement. Aurora College students, those attending classes here in Yellowknife, unfortunately some of them are in extremely crowded conditions. Some of them are in classrooms which have great heat variations, sometimes too cold, sometimes too hot. It’s not an optimal experience for them. I believe strongly, and I think many of the college staff and students also believe, that Yellowknife deserves a stand-alone campus similar to those in Inuvik and Fort Smith. I’d like to know from the Minister whether or not the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has a capital plan that includes planning for and construction of a stand-alone campus for Yellowknife. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I do agree that there needs to be a stand-alone campus along with other jurisdictions similar to them. However, we have to find the funds within the Government of the Northwest Territories to make that a reality.

There have been several meetings that happened over the years. Just recently there has been a meeting between the GNWT, college and city, just preliminary discussions that we have been having. We want to focus on what our options are that we can work with.

At the current stage, the lease agreement is up for the Northern United Place. We are in the process of renewing that from two years up to five years so we can plan for potentially a new building if that is the

case. Those are the areas that we are continuously working towards. Mahsi.

Thanks to the Minister. I am really pleased to hear that there is actually something happening other than just talk. There has been a lot of talk in the last couple of years about maybe this happening, maybe that happening, but there has been nothing concrete.

I’m glad to hear the Minister say that he is meeting with the college board, but I guess I would like to know, when he says that they are looking at all options, does that include options such as P3 projects. Does that include options such as a corporate sponsor who might perhaps assist in the building of a college? Is the Minister seriously considering every possible option? Thank you.