Again, we’re very proud of the work that we’ve done in China. We’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of visitors from China, since a handful in the low hundreds in 2010, to between January of last year and July this year, well over 7,000 Chinese visitors. We have recently hosted the ambassador from China to Canada here in Yellowknife, in Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk.

We’ve only really scratched the surface at the potential of the Chinese market. Markets in Asia remain fertile ground for us when it comes to tourism and attracting more folks here, and undoubtedly, the next government will be conducting further missions to promote and market the Northwest Territories to Asian markets, specifically China, Japan, and others.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m very proud of our record of support for skills development in the tourism industry. ITI has hosted numerous courses on boat safety and first aid to improve the level of safety of our tourism operations. We’ve developed a tourism hospitality program focused on Aboriginal people, and conducted many hospitality training workshops over the life of this government.

Our Tourism 2015 plan rested on three pillars: people, communities, and business. Continued investment in the skills of the people in this industry is essential for future economic growth, and I hope that the new government will continue to support the development of business acumen of our tourism entrepreneurs and the skills of people that they employ.

A recent article in the Huffington Post had Yellowknife as the fasted growing tourism destination in Canada. That’s a testament to the hard work and commitment of the folks in our tourism industry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize all of the visitors that we have in the gallery this afternoon. Especially I wanted to recognize Chief Edward Sangris with the Yellowknives Dene.

I also wanted to recognize, I know she’s been recognized before, my constituency assistant, Ms. Wendy Morgan. Thanks again, Wendy, for all of your hard work and your commitment to my office and helping me do my duties as MLA.

I also wanted to recognize Mr. Kevin O’Reilly, a former colleague of mine at City Hall.

I’ve also got in the gallery today a friend of mine, a consultant, David Wasylciw. Welcome to the House, David.

Also, I wanted to recognize Paula Walsh. I know the Premier did earlier, but I met Paula in Quebec earlier this year, and it’s great to see you here in the Northwest Territories. Enjoy your visit. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It has been an honour and a privilege to continue to serve the constituents of Kam Lake, this House, its Members and the residents of the Northwest Territories. I want to wish everybody good luck and best wishes as the end of the 17th Assembly comes to close, especially my colleagues Ms. Bromley…

---Laughter

Ms. Bisaro and Mr. Bromley.

A bit of a Freudian slip. There’s never been any jokes about that.

But all kidding aside, I wish both of my colleagues all the best in your retirement. It’s been a pleasure to work with you both. I know the constituents in both Weledeh and Frame Lake have been very well-served with both MLAs.

I also want to thank very much my support staff in my office upstairs: Ryan Strain, my executive assistant; Corinne Kruse, my executive secretary; and I want to thank Mrs. Groenewegen for allowing me to share the services of Ms. Wendy Morgan. Wendy’s been a great constituency assistant and I want to thank her very much for her work.

I also want to thank all the staff at the Department of Justice and the Department of ITI, especially deputy ministers Peter Vician and also Sylvia Haener for all the work that they put into supporting my position here as Minister.

Mr. Speaker, others have mentioned it and we wouldn’t be able to do our jobs if it wasn’t for the love and support of our families back home. For me, I just want to say a special thanks to my wife, Michelle, my kids, Malachi, Elijah, Adeline, and now Donavan, and for all the love and support that they give me. Really, I wouldn’t be able to do the job without the support of my wife, so thank you very much, Michelle.

Thank you very much, again, to the constituents of Kam Lake. They put their faith, their trust in me to do the job here at the Legislature on their behalf, and I’m certainly looking forward to getting back out on the election trail and talking to all the constituents in Kam Lake again during the election campaign.

So, with that, Mr. Speaker, thank you very much for your role here in heading up the Legislative Assembly. It’s been a pleasure to work with you. The Board of Management, my Cabinet colleagues and everyone, I wish everybody all the best and Godspeed. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the high cost of living has been identified as a significant concern for Northwest Territories residents. The Government of the Northwest Territories is committed to addressing the many factors that contribute to this challenge, including the high cost of food in many communities.

One of the ways we are doing that is by supporting the production of local food. I am pleased to report that the Northwest Territories’ agriculture and small-scale foods sector has grown significantly in the last decade. With renewed interest and commitment toward re-establishing Behchoko’s community garden, I can share that all 33 communities in this territory now have established community gardens or greenhouse projects.

With the installation of greenhouses in our northern-most communities of Ulukhaktok, Sachs Harbour and Paulatuk, we have a small-scale food production sector stretching the length and breadth of the NWT.

The governments of Canada and the Northwest Territories have provided tremendous support and leadership for the expansion and support of this sector. This sector has also been championed by individuals and organizations committed to diversifying their own food baskets, increasing the availability of locally grown and produced food, and reducing the cost of healthy, freshly grown food alternatives in their communities.

As we approach the Thanksgiving weekend and the traditional harvest season, I would like to highlight some of the success stories.

Mr. Speaker, every Saturday throughout the summer, the Inuvik greenhouse hosted an arctic market that sold fresh, organic produce. The Inuvik greenhouse was the first community greenhouse in the Beaufort-Delta and remains the hub for agriculture above the Arctic Circle.

Tsiigehtchic, meanwhile, is one of the fastest growing gardening communities in the Beaufort-Delta. Thirty of this community’s 120 residents are currently growing food in raised garden beds outside of their homes.

Mr. Speaker, thanks in large part to the work and dedication of the Whiteman family, Norman Wells has held the unofficial title as the NWT’s potato capital for a number of years. This year, however, there is a challenger in the North Slave.

The community of Whati’s 40-by-70-foot community garden, under the care and guidance of community volunteers like Mr. Jim Stauffer, this summer yielded 1,013 pounds of potatoes. It was a phenomenal harvest that was shared, in the same collective spirit that it was grown, with more than 50 families and individuals in that community.

In Gameti this spring, a pilot project saw the purchase of 38 chicks for harvesting. I would like to recognize Mr. Judo Dominicata for his passion and leadership on this project, even housing the chickens in his own home while infrastructure was being completed at the community farm. Mr. Speaker, healthy, fresh chickens are being processed this fall, at approximately half the cost of a frozen chicken in Gameti. Community residents are looking forward to repeating this project on a larger scale next year and expanding it to include egg-laying chickens.

In August, residents of Fort Simpson enjoyed the second annual arts and crafts workshop and demonstration, and community trade fair, which was hosted by Industry, Tourism and Investment’s Deh Cho regional office. This year’s event also included gardening workshops on composting, animal husbandry and soil fertility.

Mr. Speaker, the Fisherman’s Wharf in Hay River remains a hot spot where residents and visitors can buy fresh northern produce from the likes of Ms. Helen Green and Ms. Jackie Milne. Jackie, of course, is also well-known to northern growers for her work with the Northern Farm Training Institute, envisioned as a vital component for an emerging NWT agriculture sector that will eventually contribute to home-grown products displacing the high volume of imported food into the NWT.

We are currently working with CanNor, the Territorial Farmers’ Association and the Town of Hay River to build a campus for the institute that, through training, will help to establish agricultural employment in farming, greenhouses and livestock, and related employment in value-added areas.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, Industry, Tourism and Investment’s North Slave regional office hosted an Agricultural Awareness and Planning Workshop earlier this week in Yellowknife. It was an opportunity for government program delivery and resource staff in the North Slave region to share their experiences, challenges and success, and to add to their skills and knowledge base to support even greater growth in this sector next year. Furthermore, it afforded us the opportunity to collaborate with the Yellowknife Garden Collective on October 3rd to also share this information and expertise with local gardening enthusiasts in a public event.

Mr. Speaker, the NWT Economic Opportunities Strategy, released in 2013, recognized much of the potential that I am highlighting for Members today. It identified the NWT agricultural sector as one in which investment, economic growth, employment and income opportunities for NWT residents all exist.

This summer, the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment led community engagement visits to inform the development of an Agriculture Strategy that will guide future investments and initiatives in this area. At the appropriate time this afternoon, I will be tabling a report of what we learned.

This report will further demonstrate that the NWT’s agriculture and small-scale foods sector is growing and thriving and in a position to be a contributor to the sustainability, health and economic potential of NWT communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Great Slave, that Bill 64, An Act to Amend the Co-operative Associations Act, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 63, An Act to Amend the Victims of Crime Act, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

You skipped 61.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 62, An Act to Amend the Coroners Act, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.