Wally Schumann

If I had a crystal ball, I would let the Member know the exact date, but I suspect it will be in the next Assembly.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our government committed to providing support for mineral exploration and the mining sector, and to support the territorial vision of land and resource management in accordance with the Land Use and Sustainability Framework. The proposed Mineral Resources Act will be a landmark, made-in-the-North legislation for our territory, and we are investing in its drafting with this degree of importance.

As we work to develop what will be the NWT’s first-ever homegrown mining legislation, the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment has completed its most...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Memo Resource Act: What We Heard Report." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I take a little offence to the Member's comments. We are in support of the mining industry in the Northwest Territories. This is our biggest revenue generator. It employs probably the largest number of people outside the bureaucracy. As I stated yesterday in this House, this is a very complex issue. People focus in on the resource royalties. There's much more than that, that these mines contribute to the Northwest Territories, social economic agreements, land taxes, IBAs, gas taxes, employment. This is a whole-government approach, and it has to be something that's taken seriously, and we will...

Mr. Speaker, the infrastructure that supports transportation has always been crucial to Northerners, to enable us to grow and develop our economy, and to help create opportunities for our residents to find success. Transportation infrastructure has always been at the forefront of enabling Northerners to grow and develop our economy, and never has it been more important in guaranteeing our future growth and prosperity than today.

The opening of the all-weather highway between the Town of Inuvik and the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk on November 15, 2017, is an example of what collaboration between all...

As I have said, this is early days in this process. They are rolling out with three instructors and, as demand fluctuates up or down, I guess that will depend on the market and the need for this type of training. I would not be surprised, even, if we see people from outside our jurisdiction who possibly want to get into the marine industry come and enrol in this program once they find out it is there. However, as I said, this is early days. We will have to see what it brings. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I said, this is a course that is fully funded by Transport Canada. The costs there will be totally absorbed by Transport Canada. It will be an application-based process, and screening will be made to suitable candidates who will be able to take these courses. Once an applicant is accepted, there will be no costs to the student.

As I have said, if we can have a look at this possibly as a regional approach, I do not believe we have anything scheduled in the coming years yet. We are still in the planning stages, and some of this investment that we will need to do is going to be hinged on the budget process as well, Mr. Speaker, but we can certainly have those conversations.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is right. The last few courses have been in the north and south of the region of the Northwest Territories for geological resources that exist in this particular region because of the high mining activity. What I can tell the Member, though, is the last one that we did have, we had members from the Sahtu participate who came down, and they accessed the SEED program to be able to participate in that, and that is an option that, depending on where the next one is, we can actually reach out to the Member to do that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That is exactly what we are doing. As all Members of this House know, we have been moving forward with the Mineral Resource Act since devolution. We want to make this a leading-edge made-in-the-North act that will benefit all Northerners, and in discussions with the intergovernmental council, it was decided that this needs a very detailed comprehensive review of royalty side of things. This is the legislation that we inherited from the federal government. The last time I believe it was updated when it was in their hands was in 2007-2008 roughly. My understanding is most jurisdictions do a 10...