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Facts & Information
The Northwest Territories (NWT) is an amazing place to live or visit.
Its size is 1.17 million square kilometres encompassing 33 communities.
As of July 2005, there were over 42,982 people living in the territory,
approximately half of which are Aboriginal. On average, the temperature
in Yellowknife (capital city) is -25 degrees celsius in January and 16
degrees celsius in July.
Mining is alive and well in the territory. With two diamond mines in
production and dreams of a Mackenzie Valley pipeline in the not so distant
future, mineral and petroleum development is continuing to be a cornerstone
of the territory's economy. Tourism is also a large part of the economy
in the NWT. Its northern
lights are famous around the world, and adventure tourism has brought
many sport enthusiasts to visit the land of the midnight sun.
On the political front, the Northwest
Territories Legislative Assembly
has 19 members and functions in much the same way as a provincial legislature.
However, in the NWT there
are no political parties at the territorial government level. The NWT
operates under the consensus system of government which means that all Members
of the Legislative Assembly are elected as independents in their constituencies.
The current Premier of the NWT
is Hon. Joe Handley and the Commissioner is Tony Whitford.
At the federal level, the Member of Parliament for the NWT
is Dennis Bevington (NDP) and the Senator is Nick Sibbeston
(Liberal).
For more information on the Northwest Territories, here are several helpful
sites you may want to visit:
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