Rylund Johnson

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. I would appreciate some regular updates on that process. I think there is a lot of interest in the public to making sure and understanding. It's a very complicated process. I think a lot of northern businesses are nervous. I think a little more public outreach on what exactly is occurring and what the GNWT's role would be appreciated. I want to move to the $4,935,000 for mineral and petroleum resources. I have no issue with the first half, the mineral, but I have quite a few issues with the second half, petroleum resources.

At one point someone would pay you to take...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We all have a collective responsibility to do more to make sure our Indigenous languages thrive. This is not an easy task. Young speakers under 25 are much are more likely to gain fluency than those aged 25 to 45, due to a result of intergenerational shame from residential schools and other complicated factors. We have lost a few generations of speakers. I believe there is much more we need to do. There needs to be more oversight in the programs we are delivering. I believe many of the single-class programs we are offering right now are simply failing. We need immersion...

Thank you, Madam Chair. A number of exploration companies are not eligible for federal wage subsidy programs given that they don't really have revenue or have the qualified drop in revenue. Can the Minister update me on any advocacy work to address this gap with the federal government or any intentions for the department to address this gap? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, the Northern Food Development Program is application based. A number of the South Slave where we have fertile land have been unable to access this. I know it's not fully subscribed to, so I think it's a bit of a problem with the program as opposed to a lack of desire to develop more food and food security. Could the Minister update me if whether there will be a review of this program to make sure that, when we have this $550,000 here, it's actually going to get out the door? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Increasing that support is largely linked to the work that is occurring on the NWT Arts Strategy, which I recognize is a joint venture by ITI and ECE. Perhaps the Minister could update me if any progress has been made on increasing support for film and specifically a model that is more of a film producers' incentive program. The way the film industry works is it's very similar to the mining industry. One in a thousand projects go forward, but, when they do, they are very significant. We have the possibility of pulling multimillion-dollar movie productions to the North...

All right. I will try and sneak one more in. I know that the Minister is a huge fan of the Geoscience Forum. We have been doing that for 47 years, I believe. I think there is a lot of potential in bringing people to the North for trading convention, tourism. I know even the Dene Nation was looking at getting a huge conference with the First Nations Assembly, which would mean hundreds or thousands of chiefs coming here. I am not quite sure we have the tourism infrastructure to hold those large conferences, but I really do think that, looking at the Geoscience Forum, there is a huge market to...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would appreciate it if the Minister could work with the new CEO and really give the BDIC a mandate for change. There is a large surplus in there. I recognize part of that is legislated and they have to have it, but, at the end of the day, I really think that in letting the BDIC be a little more arms-length has a lot of exciting venture capital possibilities. There are all sorts of private equity firms looking to invest and looking to find interesting projects.

Moving on, I would like to speak to the $450,000 for our commercial fisheries. Could the Minister provide me a...

Thank you, Madam Chair. As you said, only two in Canada have this thing. Most jurisdictions, you have to get your municipal business licence and you go out and run a business. I guess I have no issue with the actual licence. I have the issue with the fact that we are imposing extra costs on small business operators. I think that the duty-to-consult aspect is great. Having a clear record of all our operators is great, and this is a process to do that, but we've essentially put an extra cost for it on small business operators. At some point, any smart business that runs into a requirement to get...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I was hoping the Minister could provide me with any attempts to hire BDIC a CEO and whether we're using a headhunting firm to obtain that position. Considering we have about half a million dollars of taxpayer money, I think it's one of the most important positions in the public service. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I'm going to share a bit of a personal anecdote, here. Last summer, I ran a sailing tour business just kind of on the side, and I did a few thousand dollars in tourism. It was nothing, but I had to pay $500 to get a licence, and then I had to pay about $2,000 to get insurance. Anyone who just wants to start an on-the-side tourism business, really, it doesn't make sense. You either go all in or all out. I think right now our regulations are killing that kind of small tourism operator. For example, right now, if you wanted to start a walking tour in Yellowknife...