Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to introduce Bill 26, An Act to Amend the Revolving Funds Act, No. 2. This bill would amend the Revolving Funds Act and establish a new revolving fund for the Marine Transportation Services with an authorized limit of $35 million. The proposed revolving fund would meet the capital operating and maintenance requirements in providing marine transportation services to the communities on Great Slave Lake, Mackenzie River, and the Arctic Coastal Region. A business model for Marine Transportation Services is currently under development, which will help determine...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Socio-Economic Agreements Implementation Report 2016 Annual Report - Ekati, Diavik, Snap Lake and Gahcho Kue." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I guess I want to lay a little groundwork how we got here. Three years ago, the formula that was there for fishers for their catch was fairly complex and it involved a number of thresholds and caps that were in place. Through the revitalization strategy, talking to the fishermen on how we are going to move this initiative forward, we changed that to a flat-scale base per-pound production. Total catch in 2014 was 288,000 kilos, and in 2015, following the changes to the support program that we put in place to help the fishermen, we saw the catch increase by 4,225 kilos. Last year, the same...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would be glad to update the House. As many of us know under the MIP, the mineral incentive program, there used to be $400,000 there available, and, thanks to this House, we have increased that amount to $1 million. Already this year, we have awarded funding to seven prospectors, seven corporate proposals, for a total of $991,000 that has already been offered. This program this year received 23 proposals and requested $2.4 million under the MIP funding support, so the uptake is over 152 per cent of last year's.

As I said, in the wintertime, we will have a weekly look at doing these things, especially around the toilets. As far as the garbage goes, that would be on a daily basis. The Blackstone Park that the Member is referring to, there is a contractor in place, and that should be looked after on a daily basis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Our intention when bought this was to look after residents of the Northwest Territories. As most people know, and I have said it a number of times, we have no intention of interfering with the barging company out of Fort Simpson. They tend to look after the Norman Wells Esso-type stuff in that region, and we will continue on with the core base of business that the previous owner had done. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is a memorandum of understanding between the Department of Infrastructure and the Department of ITI on these roadside turn-offs. The ones that have washrooms available, the Department of ITI looks after that. As for the garbage disposal at the turn-offs and the cleaning of snow removal and the grading and such, it is the Department of Infrastructure. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The establishment of the revolving fund, in our view, is a transitional step. We were going to return to standing committee in the fall with the proposal for the long-term structure of this entity; and moving forward, that was our whole role and intent as the Member alluded that he does not think this is a necessary step. We can probably run empty, yes, without doing this, but it would cause a lot of confusion around the finances about how this thing operates. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Speaker, in December of last year, the GNWT took steps to ensure the North did not lose an important transportation link that delivers essential petroleum products and cargo, including consumer goods and construction materials, to communities and customers on Great Slave Lake, the Mackenzie River, and the Arctic coastal region, when it purchased the assets of Northern Transportation Company Limited. These assets included the Hay River shipyard, properties in Hay River, Norman Wells, Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk, and a fleet of specialized tugboats and single-hulled barges for transporting deck...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Infrastructure consulted internally with the Departments of Finance and Justice regarding the establishment of the revolving fund for the MTS, and we also consulted with Transport Canada, the Department of Lands, and the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources to discuss regulatory and safety requirements associated with MTS as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.