Katrina Nokleby

I have to apologize. I am missing a section in my binder. I don't have page 226. I wonder if I have two 226s. Sorry. My apologies. Okay. Two-twenty-eight is my next number, Joe. Thank you. If the committee would give me a second, I am going to pull up my e-binder. I apologize. If that would be okay?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I do not have the breakdown of Indigenous, but I do believe that Dr. Dragon does, so I will pass that over to him. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Member for his questions. The Department of Infrastructure is continuing with our capital plan. We have had to have a bit of delay in our process to account for COVID, including the lack or want of southern or outside workers in small communities. This has delayed the implementation of some of our contracting at this point.

However, the Department of Infrastructure does plan to continue with most of our infrastructure projects going forward that we already had on the books. We have started to tweak and look at our procurement strategy. We have...

Thank you, Madam Chair. In that one, we had an increase of $345,000, and that was the Northern Transportation Adaptation Initiative. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, this is the area for Arctic Energy Alliance. It was part of the priority to give them more funding. I am going to pass it over to Dr. Dragon for the more detailed explanation. Thank you.

I was going to commit to having some of that discussion on the 23rd, but from listening to the Member, it sounds like he would like another day for me to come down to Hay River. I will commit to that. However, you may have to fight with the Member for Nunakput to get me there a second time before I get to his community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes. ITI is working with the Department of Health and Social Services, Environment and Natural Resources, as well as Lands, to ensure all actions identified in the strategy are moving forward. I can confirm that, under the agricultural strategy, these discussions are ongoing in the departments at the working-group level. We also are trying to be more proactive with communities when it comes to designating land for agricultural use. Over the last two years, ITI's superintendent in the South Slave has met with community leaders, is my understanding, to identify lands within the municipalities...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When we talk about the value of tourism in the Northwest Territories, we often speak in terms of the dollars spent and the number of visitors tallied. In 2018-2019, the tourism industry showed record numbers in both of these categories, emphasizing once again that the approach to, and investments in, our Tourism 2020 Strategy are working. In fact, over the last five years, we have increased the number of visitors to our territory by 42 percent and boosted spending by 43 percent.

As we look to grow and diversify our territory's economy, these figures are important to our...

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that, on Thursday, March 12, 2020, I will move that Bill 3, An Act to Amend the Public Highways Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I can confirm, yes, to the Member that the government is ready to explore all options, including policy, legislation, regulation, and programming to advance the business of food in this territory. We believe the demand for safe, affordable, locally-grown food choices will create businesses and entrepreneurial activities that will work to strengthen and diversify our economy, as well.