Thank you, Madam Chair. I won’t spend too much time. I think most of my colleagues have spent a fair deal in going through things. The only areas I’d like to re-emphasize, of course, are a couple of them that did stand out.
I, too, am curious how much work was done on the removal of the BIP office to the South Slave. I am not against us devolving to other areas. I do continue to stand by taking people who are in working positions without better plans, so what I’d like to see here is, I’d like to hear some feedback as to how this analysis drew down to saying this office is the best one we should move out, how it was communicated, what analysis was considered. I’m not beyond reason whereas to say yes, I certainly believe the office could, and certainly will, work outside of the Yellowknife region. I’m well aware of that and I can certainly appreciate that circumstance, but I’d also like to know, in essence, the analysis done on that area, why that one was picked, and how we’re going to do business differently and what will it cost.
I, like many other Members, are concerned that we feel that NWT Tourism is still underfunded and I would like to see an additional $600,000 put into it. We pale in comparison to other regions. It is a good way to help diversify our economy in a meaningful way by helping tourism. As we all know, our GDP is
in a gross manner made up of largely the mining sector, which is the reality of this particular area, but for an additional $600,000, I think we could really help the industry that draws in new cash into our region to help our small businesses and make a big difference.
The only other area is an issue I had brought a couple of years ago to the old ITI Minister and I thought there were some legs behind the idea or, I should say, the concept. I present a rebranding concept to the department. I did a fair bit of work on it. I hired a graphic artist to assist me in the matter. I provided it to the department, free of charge, as a vehicle for suggesting how we could develop all areas and help promote them. I called the program Made in the NWT. I felt, really, the legs behind it was it’s supposed to be “in the NWT.” So it could be Fished in the NWT, Played, Recorded, Grown, it could develop and help strengthen and lend support.
I don’t miss an occasion to talk about the Fort McPherson tents. I often have told many people about the glazing work that gets done in Hay River where you can buy windows. I don’t miss the opportunity to say, hey, you can get potatoes in the Wells area. It was a way to help bolster a little bit of community pride in these industries, and if we’re able to in our own way, kind of like the Made in the USA program, we could put a little consumer pride into our products.
I know we have a strategy around art recognition, but this could expand into many areas very simply and it’s one I presented to the department. It’s like one of those things, it must have been my idea because it was so good they ignored it. That’s kind of how I feel sometimes with some of these suggestions when they’re presented to departments. To some degree I say that with some frustration, because I got a lot of feedback. I even set up a website in order to get some feedback and people enjoyed it. I circulated it around the community. The NWT Chamber thought it had a lot of legs and they tried to support it in their own mechanism. Like I said, it went into the abyss of government and I never heard again from it. As a matter of fact, if anyone is really curious, I still have the poster on my window by my office door and I’m more than happy to provide more details to anyone who would like it. That said, just on the last point I want to make, it was only a vehicle.
I wasn’t suggesting I’m the graphic artist or it perfectly fit with our system, but what I felt was it could provide an example for our very smart staff to figure out new ways to help ensure our products matter.
When consumers look at them, it does draw attention. You could be looking, by way of example, at a window made who knows where and a window made in Hay River, and you’ll know that at least if
you see that one that says this window was made in the NWT, you’re going to ask, well, where was it made. Then you’ll say to yourself, well, I could spend the money there, which I know helps those people, or I could buy it from who knows where they ship that window from, whether it’s BC or Alberta or even beyond that. So consumer awareness is very important to me and I think it’s important to a lot of territorial citizens who take great pride in the services they know that exists here. The problem is they become largely anonymous and that’s is a problem here. So for the sum total of not a whole lot of money for stickers to be supported, we could do a lot to help our industries. Again, small little businesses that could go a long way. Thank you.