Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't know if I am going to be able to convince the Member to vote for this or not, but first of all, I want to say that we are not saying that this couldn't be done; it could be done if we had chosen to. We are doing some low-cost cleanup this year with O and M on a small barrel cleanup that is at the site, but the biggest problem, I think, with trying to remediate the contaminated sites once they are identified going forward, is if we do that within the revolving fund, that is going to be a cost bearing on the communities that use this service.

If we are using that...

The turn-off responsibility would be the Department of Infrastructure for all the garbage there. I will take this opportunity to also talk to the House. It was mentioned to the House when we were in Inuvik for the NWTA. This issue came up. I informed the communities at that point that we have undertaken a harder look at how we maintain these turn-offs in the Northwest Territories. I have instructed ITI to put the turn-offs on a regular basis of cleaning, particularly around the winter season when it is a little more challenging, and have a look at that. With our contractors now in place, the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will defer that to Mr. McCormick.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize Mr. Chuck Lirette from Hay River, who was introduced into the Education Hall of Fame today. Mr. Lirette is a dedicated educator, and has always been an active part of his community. As Herb said, he has been in Inuvik and Hay River. His positive influence in helping students engage with science has made a lasting difference in their lives and in their school community. It is an honour to congratulate Mr. Lirette today and all of the inductees, as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

No, no one else. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my right, I have Deputy Minister Paul Guy of Infrastructure and on my far right is John Vandenberg, assistant deputy minister of programs and services, and on my left is Vince McCormick, director of corporate services.

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.