With the decrease of activity in the oil and gas sector within the Beaufort-Delta region, I think we’ve got to put our focus in another investment and industry such as tourism. I’m glad to see the Minister is taking that on and making headway in that sense.
I’d like to ask the Minister, I know that the dollars he says, but the cost of living, the cost of travel in the Beaufort-Delta region, we see it. We see it in our books here when Members have to go back up to the Beaufort-Delta. It’s expensive just for a trip from Yellowknife. Ten thousand to the Sunrise Festival might be great. It’s a one-day, one-event kind of event and they make it a big deal to make a weekend out of it. I think that we can get more people up into Inuvik in the Beaufort-Delta region if there is a little bit more of an investment, a little bit more work with the Town of Inuvik and with the other partners. The Town of Inuvik did a great job in developing partners with some of the airlines, but I think this government needs to step up if we’re going to diversify our economy into the regions.
That’s a lot of money, this $10 million, and I want to know if they’ll be a bigger investment up in the Beaufort-Delta region, up in the Sahtu and the Deh
Cho, because those are the areas that aren’t seeing the economies really grow.