Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Madam Chair. It's hard to get past me. My first question is: my understanding is that the $3,800,000 we see for SEED this year is actually quite oversubscribed and that we have found some internal money within and managed to spend more than is in the budget, for which I am very happy. I think SEED is one of our best programs and probably is some of the best return on investment we get for creating business in the NWT. Can I get an updated figure of how much we have disbursed in SEED funding over this last fiscal year? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have no doubt that there are spinoff economic benefits from a large southern paddle company or a hunting outfitter coming up here and running their lodge. I actually talk to a lot of the lodge owners who run them seasonally, and they're great businesses. I just question the justification for us actually giving them money, especially when a lot of them are historically quite competitive in running good programs. I look forward to seeing those numbers. I have made this request before. On to another point, though, we waived the $500 tourism operator licence fee for this...

I'm actually not all that concerned about the tendering of the licences, but I have been previously told that this was one of the barriers to adding a satellite station in downtown Yellowknife. I will get to the point. Is the Minister willing to implement the option of, whether it be a reverse vending machine or a drop-and-go or a partial-hours, some sort of way that those with mobility issues can drop their recycling off downtown and get money for it?

Thank you, Madam Chair. One last comment: I actually like seeing these line items of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Act implementation and when a department goes out and creates a unit and staffs it and makes it very clear. I would encourage all other Ministers, when you have large pieces of legislation or regulations to implement, make a unit, give a manager with that title. It creates clear accountability, and it creates clear funding. It also kind of shows where a government's priorities are at. I'm not sure this aligns with my priorities, but I think this means people aren't doing things...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It seems my quest to get a small satellite recycling depot in downtown Yellowknife has been caught up in some of the larger review of how our depots operate and the licences under them. My first question to the Minister of ENR: when was the last time we put our recycling depot licences out to tender?

Thank you, Madam Chair. Stepping back, the $16 million I see here for mineral and petroleum resources versus the economic diversification and business support, which is $18 million, I think some things are a little out of line in this unit. I struggle to know exactly, especially the petroleum resources side, what they're doing. I heard the deputy minister say there that we're trying to get that unit in Inuvik to work on some of the Husky forfeiture and the remediation work, and I think that's great. I think that's probably the direction of where a lot of our staff have to go. Are there any...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. I look forward for that work. I think it's a long time overdue. Can I get an update? During the last main estimates, there was quite a lot of talk of the eight members in the Beaufort-Delta under this section. I believe now we've added one more, apparently, in this budget, and I believe those were petroleum resource officers. I know there's not a lot of petroleum resource. I believe there was some talk about re-profiling them or making sure the job descriptions align better to making sure they have work to do given the decline of oil and gas in the Delta? Can I get...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Do we have a date for when we expect online maps to be implemented?

Thank you, Madam Chair. One of my concerns is that I know BDIC has some legislative, kind of, parameters that they have to operate in, and they have a certain fund to make sure that all of their loans are intact. I believe, if they get too much into deferrals or grants, they run up against those. Does the Minister have any figures of what it costs to defer loans or if, actually, they run into the parameters we're willing to fund them? I think this is probably pretty cheap money to defer payments, and it's a good return on investment. Is there a cost to those loan deferrals? Thank you, Madam...

Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. That is fine. I am just trying to get some good numbers on the public record for SEED. Can I get an update on where we are at with market disruption being applied to SEED funding? I have heard a couple of different answers over the year of it not being applied just to the COVID relief. I get that there are a number of streams and that they have been moving around, understandably, to adapt, but how are we applying market disruption to SEED funding going forward? Thank you, Madam Chair.