Adam Johnson
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, November 21, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Two months after a historic trade mission to China, NWT delegates are rife with memories - and are still scrambling to put together a report.

"It was a bit of an eye-opener for us," said Robin Wotherspoon, president of NWT Tourism and one of the delegates on the 10-day trip.

The $160,000 visit was a whirlwind tour of Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing Sept. 10-20, in which delegates met industry and tourism representatives, said Garry Singer, director of investment and economic analysis for the GNWT's Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

"It was a good reception," Singer said of several presentations made by the GNWT and other representatives of Northern tourism and industry.

These presentations focused on the NWT as a pristine tourist destination, he said, as well as a future transportation route for industry to the Alberta oil sands.

"Overall, they were well-attended, and there was a lot of interest," Singer said.

"It's following up on that interest that is going to be the next step."

The trade mission was a source of anger in the dying days of the 15th legislative assembly in August, as several non-cabinet MLAs cried foul at the trip's timing and lack of transparency.

"Normally, committee is given ample notice, detail and information on the nature of these kinds of fairly high profile (trips)," said former Great Slave MLA Bill Braden at the time.

The trade mission came to light during discussions on a legislative assembly spending bill when cabinet asked for an additional $100,000 added to $100,000 already budgeted for the trip. The trip would come in under budget at $160,000.

Braden put forward a motion to cancel the trip's additional funding - a move that was defeated.

One critic, Kam Lake MLA Dave Ramsay, said he and other members still haven't seen any solid evidence of the trip's value to the territories.

"There's a number of questions that I would like to ask," he said.

Singer said a report would be available "in the coming weeks."

Ramsay said he will be serving as the chair of the standing committee on economic development and infrastructure in the 16th assembly, and hopes the committee will offer more checks and balances on future trade missions.

"We need some way to measure success," he said. "That's something the last government never really did."

While he acknowledged the benefits of initiating business relationships with China, Ramsay said the process could have been more transparent.

"It has to be measured, well-timed and well-executed," he said. "I don't know if this last trade mission was."

Former premier Joe Handley said seeing China firsthand drove home all he had heard and read about the country's powerful economy.

"You don't appreciate it until you see it," he said.

Handley said it is important for Canada and the North to take an active role with this growing superpower.

"We can't isolate ourselves," he said. "It does not work in today's world.

"(The trip) was worthwhile, absolutely."

Wotherspoon said she was surprised to learn how "open" Canada is to Chinese tourism, despite strict restrictions for travelling abroad - including financial deposits for visas, and clear demonstrations travellers intend to return to China.

"The Canadian embassies were processing 150-170,000 visas per year," she said. "So they're totally coming."

She said these restrictions are more loose in Hong Kong, which is still considered a special administrative region.

Wotherspoon was further surprised that Chinese delegates seem to have a different take on what the North has to offer.

"I don't think the aurora holds the mysticism that it does for other Asian traffic," she said. "As a natural phenomenon, they were certainly impressed."

She said delegates seemed most taken with the unspoiled natural beauty the NWT offers, in contrast to the pollution that many Chinese cities suffer from.

"I think they were quite awestruck," she said.

"We want to make sure that they know there is an opportunity in the NWT to have an extremely unique and spectacular experience."