Wally Schumann

I think I will defer that question to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. He toes the line more than I do in this Assembly, but I believe his toe might be cheaper than mine, so the upfront costs would be a little bit better and revenues would be higher. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In particular, as of late, I think the big tourism opportunities that have been there locally are around the cruise ship industries. Our staff have been in there the last two years when these ships come into the region and support economic development in the region and tourists spend their money. Our staff is there to help facilitate that. I think we have actually even used our programs to help facilitate providing opportunities around business opportunities with such a large influx of people who will come to shore when these boats come to town, but as I have said, we have our two economic...

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...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct that we do not do that. The complete number is shared as a whole in our books, but this is a conversation since devolution has taken place that we need to have with all residents of the Northwest Territories.

It's a very important one that we have to take. Royalties directly impact the profitability of these mines, and we know we want to get our fair share, but at the same time, we have to protect the industry that we have in the Northwest Territories so that residents can benefit from these economic opportunities. We will continue to look at this...

I would gladly sit down and have a discussion with all of the leadership around the potential of a deep-water port in the Beaufort Delta region. I know it is something that is clearly on the minds of people in the Tuktoyaktuk community for sure. I have had casual conversations about that and how we can try to initiate and move that forward and how it can actually stir more economic development in the region and for the territory as a whole, depending on our approach to it.

I am sure it is on the federal government's mind as well, around sovereignty issues for the region and protecting the...