Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last year, ITI was up there to help to facilitate, to get the best economic impact from the arrival of cruise ship Serenity. We worked with all the communities and we were involved with the landing of all the ships within the community, and even our announcement yesterday how we can work with the IRC around the seal products of the fur, to be able to sell that to the European markets, so hopefully we have some European people on the cruise ships in this coming year, but we will continue to work with the people in the Members' riding to leverage the best economic...

Actually, I have met with the Mineral Advisory Board and one of the first things I had done is I have actually put a pause and disbanded the board for now. I have met with them since then, but not as a board but as individuals, moving forward and getting their advice. I will continue to have a look at how this board operates and how it suits the Mineral Development Strategy of the Northwest Territories moving forward.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The extension was a procedural one. We have moved forward with that. It was based on recommendations from the Mine Advisory Board, consultation with the Chamber of Mines, and numerous companies that are involved in the mineral industry, and it is consistent with our mandate. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled "Northwest Territories Tourism Marketing Plan 2017/18." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We're a small territory. Like everybody else in the Northwest Territories, if they have a complaint they either go to their MLA or go directly to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't believe I need to commit to that because I believe we have a robust system that's in place and procurement is well-documented in the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Like I said, what has taken everyone 20 years to do, we want to do it in 10 years. In particular, I want to speak about the Yukon Government. We have engaged with them. Their strategy is quite a bit ahead of us. As most people know here, they have a robust agricultural industry in the Yukon, so we have engaged with them. We are learning from their best practices and experiences, so we are drawing on a lot of that. Plus, we have also sent representatives from the department recently to the circumpolar agricultural conference that was held in Iceland, and we want to continue to build on that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The broad overall objectives, the one thing we've got to remember: this is our very first Agricultural Strategy in the Northwest Territories. What we are trying to do with this strategy, what other people have done in 20 years, we are trying to do it in 10 years. It was part of the mandate to try to grow the agriculture sector. We see it as an economic development agenda. We have heard that in community engagements, along with all these other things that are implemented within the strategy. This is a blueprint of what the communities, the growers, the farm people in the...

The Department of Transportation has a budget for the grand opening in November, and the other two are going to be through sources funded through other allocations and different departments, including, probably, the federal government.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The contractors are working out there right now. They have 3.5 kilometres of embankment that they had to finish in the centre section of the highway. With that work, there are roughly 147,000 cubic metres of material that will be put in place to finish up those 3.5 kilometres. They had eight culverts to finish up, and two bridges, and all that work is nearing completion this winter. Moving on into the summer, operations have surfacing gravel, which will include crushing, stockpiling, and laying out the gravel, then finishing up the guard rails, signage, and such for the...