David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To my left is Peter Vician, deputy minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, and to my right, Nina Salvador. She’s our director of finance at ITI.

They have attended for hearings. To get that level of detail, though, we’ll go back and find that information out for the Member. Thank you.

Again, we’re working through all of these details. That is certainly one that we are paying attention to and I’m thankful for the Member bringing that up today. Again, as we get closer to working with a proponent on delivering this service in the Northwest Territories, we will be back having a briefing with the Standing Committee on Social Programs and Members that are interested in this to show them what we’ve come up with, who we’re working with and how this is all going to roll out. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to present the 2015-2016 Main Estimates for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Overall, the department’s main estimates propose total operational costs of approximately $65.6 million for this coming fiscal year, an increase of over $3 million, or 5.6 percent, from ‘14-15. This includes sunsets of over $4.4 million, over $6 million in new initiatives and nearly $800,000 in forced growth, most of which is collective bargaining increases. It also includes the transfer of ITI’s energy planning division and associated initiatives to...

The appointments to the board will be at my discretion. Again, Mr. Speaker, these will be industry experts. We will be looking for a cross-section of experience from producers to explorers to folks in the service side. We are still working on who is going to populate this advisory board. It’s an industry advisory board; it’s not a social advocacy board. We will populate it with people we will get information from that will help us develop a mining industry here in the Northwest Territories.

I will add that there’s ample opportunity for folks if they are interested in providing commentary on how...

Mr. Speaker, communities have worked with the RCMP to develop policing priorities and action plans that designate specific priorities to make our communities safer. I would like to share with Members how this collaboration is making a difference in our communities.

Stopping bootlegging and stemming the inflow of prohibited liquor is a main focus for many communities. This priority is very important, especially around Christmas, holidays and other community events. It requires active participation by everyone, including community members and leaders, RCMP and partners, to combat bootlegging and...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thanks for your indulgence. I’ll start with the ICM and the pilot in Inuvik. We’re happy to hear the support from the Member and other Members on that rollout. We’re excited about getting that pilot up and running in Inuvik. We’re interested, again, in trying to do things a bit differently and trying to work not from silos but include others. So we’re anxious to see that happen.

On the men who use violence, we have had some referrals to the Tree of Peace. The program is going to start back up in March. So we’re hopeful that this will be successful. It’s a program that’s...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It would be my pleasure. To my right is Ms. Sylvia Haener, deputy minister for the Department of Justice; to my left, Ms. Kim Schofield, director of corporate services with the Department of Justice.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to present the 2015-2016 Main Estimates for the Department of Justice. Overall the department’s estimates propose an increase of $3.8 million, or 3.1 percent, over the 2014-2015 estimates.

These estimates represent the work of the department for the administration of a justice system for the Northwest Territories that is open, accessible and responsive to the needs of the people we serve. We are presenting a budget that continues to be prudent and responsible. Accordingly, we are presenting $809,000 in expenditure reductions and reducing $992,000 through...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize two visitors with us in the gallery today: Ms. Cathie Bolstad, executive director, NWT Tourism, and also with her is Mr. Ron Ostrom. He’s the director of marketing with NWT Tourism. I want to thank both of them for all the great work they do in our partnership in marketing the Northwest Territories around the world. Thank you.