Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Through our work on the Economic Opportunities Strategy it was clearly identified that we always get

requests for smaller capital items in the smaller communities, and our belief is that tourism does have a great deal of potential in a number of our smaller communities. This money was identified through our work on the EOS. It’s appropriated this year. We’re planning on appropriating the same amount next year and then evaluating the success of the dollars that we put forward in this area. We’re thinking that having this money available is going to fill that gap, because we do get a number of requests on an annual basis of this nature, so we’ll see how this goes as we move along.

I certainly look forward to a breakdown as to where these infrastructure dollars are going to, which communities, regions, and how they are being taken advantage of by attracting tourism into their communities or region.

The tourism skill development contribution for mentorship and skill development, in this area too is a concern of mine that is this money being targeted for certain operators saying in here that are knowing that they’re doing well, or is this for new operators. Just basically maybe some briefing notes. You don’t have to explain everything to me, but I just want to know how we’re spending this money, and certainly anything to do with skill development is valuable and it’s worthwhile.

You know that we are getting a lot of Asian visitors now to the Northwest Territories. I guess that’s a question I always ask. What makes it so that they want to come to the Northwest Territories? We had some people who visited the Northwest Territories who said if it wasn’t for this program then I would never come here, because it costs quite a bit. But they had the opportunity to come here and they love it up here. What makes it so that, you know, are we geared to the high end of the class of people who can afford to come here? It costs quite a bit to come to the Northwest Territories even to fly in the Northwest Territories let alone accommodations that we have to offer at the price that we pay here. There is a group or segment of people that love to come to the North here and that is shown by the results that we saw from the stats that we’ve been reviewing here. I guess that’s not about the question as to the skill development and the skills that we now have in the North to attract these people.

One of the things that was also clearly identified through our work on EOS was the fact that we needed to put more of an effort into tourism training and initiatives regarding tourism training, specifically on the hospitality side. Most of us have travelled. I mean, you always remember the great service that you got wherever you’re at. That’s what we want to see more of our operators have, the availability of getting that type of training for their staff, and that’s our effort on this, and again, it comes from the EOS.

Just following up on the Member’s comments on what makes people choose to come to the Northwest Territories, I can speak from experience. I know the Premier and I and Member Hawkins in January we were in China, and I know the air quality, they’re under a yellow alert in Beijing today. The air quality when we were there was abysmal, and fresh air and clean air is something that a lot of people seek out. Certainly here in the Northwest Territories we are blessed with some clean air, pristine environment, wide open spaces, and more and more, people are looking for that type of environment to vacation in and to explore, and that’s what we have a lot of, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

I guess that’s one of the appeasing factors. We live in a clean, fresh North and we would like to keep it that way to attract the tourism.

In Asia, it would certainly be nice to take a trip over there some day; however, I will just have to wait.

Part of the tourism and promotion is to promote our lifestyle, that’s something appeasing, also, for our traditional arts and crafts – people are deadly artists and handcrafters in our small communities – that people want to see. Not made in China art, but made in the Sahtu, made in the Deh Cho, Beaufort-Delta, Tu Nedhe, whatever, made in Tlicho arts and crafts, the real stuff. I think that’s what I am looking forward to see, what type of support for promotion of our arts and crafts, to showcase our people.

It’s good to know that one of the attractions of the North is fresh, clean, pristine air and the beauty that we have to offer. I just want to close on that note of more of a comment to the Minister. I guess the question is promoting our northern arts and crafts, and you can see a little bit in the House by people wearing their traditional clothing. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, we have come a long way when it comes to Aboriginal tourism here in the Northwest Territories. We have a strategy that we put together. I was at the FPT meeting where, you know, there is a lot of interest on Aboriginal tourism by the other jurisdictions across this country. They are interested in what we’re doing. In fact, we are leading the charge when it comes to Aboriginal tourism, putting together a strategy. We’re trying to increase awareness and support for Aboriginal tourism among Aboriginal communities here in the Northwest Territories and Aboriginal governments.

We are improving skills for Aboriginal businesses involved in the tourism industry here. We are leveraging youth and elder involvement in tourism across the Northwest Territories. We are supporting Aboriginal culture and language through tourism, and marketing and promoting Aboriginal tourism around Canada and North America and, in fact, the

world. Arts and crafts certainly figure prominently into what folks could do when they come to the Northwest Territories to visit. We have some very beautiful and gorgeous arts and crafts made by some very talented artists and artisans around the Northwest Territories. We have a lot to be proud of and a lot to market. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Committee, page 12-26, activity summary, tourism and parks, grants and contributions, $5.558 million. Agreed?

Page 12-27, information item, tourism and parks, active positions. Any questions?

Agreed. Page 12-29, activity summary, economic diversification and business support, operations expenditure summary, $22.970 million. Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want some clarification here regarding the NWT BDIC, not so much about the expenditures of monies but the fact remains this entity was established in 2005 and under Section 41 of the NWT Business Development and Investment Corporations Act it says it should have a mandatory review every five years, so if it was in effect since 2005, we should have had at least one review and should be almost slated for a second review.

Can the Minister indicate where we are at with that mandatory component of Section 41 of the act? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As Minister, I have requested that report and hopefully BDIC and the department get that report as soon as possible.

So, just so we’re clear, we will have a report done in this fiscal year. Thank you.

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Minister Ramsay. Page 12-29, activity summary, economic diversification and business support, operations expenditure summary, $22.970 million. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think this is one of the most important divisions in the whole government. Our economy is important and to the extent that we are successful in this area of diversification, I think that we will be successful with our economic development. It will reflect our work in education and health and so on, but the work actually diversify our basis of economic realization is so important.

I want to recognize that additional contributions to the film industry here, which I recognize our ongoing support to fisheries and agriculture through the Growing Forward federal support that we are attracting here. I very much appreciate that.

Can I start with the Agriculture Policy, maybe? I know that this is a goal of the department, as reflected in their Economic Opportunities Strategy. What sort of time frame are we looking at here and is there an estimated budget for this? I would also like to specifically ask, would it include, for example, things that have come up through suggestions from the public like enabling regulations for small abattoirs for butchering of very small numbers of animals by local providers for local markets? That’s the sort of thing BC has done now, under 25 animals sort of thing. Our small providers could not meet the costs required for a typical abattoir on a large commercial basis, but we do have programs that we are supporting out there, teaching people how to do this on small scale. Would the Agriculture Policy also include the food security element, which is sort of a subset of the agriculture umbrella? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is another item that has fallen out of the work on EOS and we are very excited about the opportunity to put together an agricultural strategy for the Northwest Territories. It will be as far-reaching as possible. We have got $150,000 earmarked in ‘14-15 to accomplish the work of the strategy. I know the Member is very interested in small-scale abattoirs, getting product into local markets. We believe this strategy, if it’s done correctly, can cover off all of that ground as well as food security, domestic supply.

We’ve done a great deal, and I know the Member knows, through the Growing Forward Fund and other programs that the department has. We have the new Northern Foods Development Program that’s in place. We’re trying to get more locally produced food into the market, especially here at home. I think that’s very important that we continue to put our best effort into doing that. Branding, too, on the fishing side is important with that Northern Food Support Program as well. This is a very positive step and it is something, as we move forward with the development of the strategy, certainly we would like to see, and expect, the involvement of Members in getting their input in the development of that strategy as well. We will be in front of committee. We will be asking the committee their thoughts and opinions on how that strategy is developed. Thank you.

I guess there’s a couple of things that I am concerned about here that I hope will be accounted for in the work on the Agriculture Policy.

The first is, in fact, the lion’s share of Growing Forward I money actually went to Take a Kid Harvesting and it had really almost nothing to do with agriculture.

That is stealing from the intent of this fund, in my mind. I would ask that the Minister examine that closely because I know it’s amongst the people interested in developing their agricultural businesses and so on. This is a stretch. They regard this as a major stretch. In fact, somehow it is getting the lion’s share of the dollars. That’s not right. I would ask the Minister to have a close examination of that.

The other thing is the face of agriculture is changing and particularly for the North, you don’t need huge amounts of land to conduct this work. In fact, the Minister knows about the commercial greenhouse businesses derived from the space program that is extremely small but extremely productive producing tons of food in a very short time per, I think, two square metres of floor space. This is proving to be true with our producers as well. I have constituents that are well under a sixth of an acre and the department, in its policy, has established that you have to have a one-acre business. They have modified that to one-sixth of an acre, but again it doesn’t meet the needs that are out there.

Again, I would ask that the Minister examine those policies, take off the sorts of limitations, look at what’s being produced, put it on a per square metre basis, perhaps, or something like that that is more realistic, so that people can actually access these dollars. Maybe I can just get the Minister to respond on those comments. Thank you.

I know the Member and I have had this discussion before. It’s good to have it again. It certainly is something that we’re interested in and something we’re going to take into consideration in the development of the strategy and new policies as we go forward. It is important that we maximize any opportunity that we have to get people involved in the agricultural sector here in the territory. We will take that under consideration. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I appreciate that. The Minister has listened and, as I said, adjusted the policy from one acre to one-sixth. It’s still not capturing the providers we have in the NWT, in many cases. I know he is listening and I have confidence there.

My last concern is on this division, the department is responsible to take the GNWT lead on trade matters, specifically the Canada-European Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. There are a lot of concerns amongst the public and I know amongst our municipalities about this. First of all, for everybody this will raise drug costs substantially, significantly in the Northwest Territories, not the Premier’s definition of 50 percent perhaps but significant costs. Are we

fighting this, and how? What is the position of our communities and municipalities on this agreement? Are they being protected from this trade agreement, and how? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Deputy Minister Vician.