Wally Schumann

Yes. Once the department has pulled that information together, Mr. Speaker, we will provide that to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We are proud of the one-widow, one-to-one service that we provide in all the regions of the Northwest Territories. There's one in Norman Wells; its doors are open from 8:30 to 5:00 on a weekly basis for entrepreneurs to come in and access that.

I mentioned the Community Transfer Initiative; it was in place for economic development officers in Tulita and Norman Wells down in Fort Good Hope. They help residents with funding applications, establish business contacts by linking them for advice and training and to help them bring their new ideas forward.

I would have to double check that with the department, but I know we are waiting to get both of those studies back before we decide the next steps on how we can help with the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre.

There are a number of parties that would be involved in this, depending on what the reports come back. There is ourselves. There is the City of Yellowknife. The Northern Frontier Visitors Information Centre is a standalone organization. When this building was built in the early 90s, there were a number of people that contributed to building this, from the federal government to the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member had it in his statement today, all the facts that he's brought forward with the increased tourism in the Northwest Territories, which we are totally supportive of to help diversify our economy, we are totally in support of trying to help alleviate the burden on the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre, and I'm sure he's going to have more questions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Laughter

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll get back to the department and pull together how we fund and operate these other tourism centres in the Northwest Territories. I know in particular in Hay River, it's the Hay River Tourism Information Centre, but I believe we actually probably give them some kind of contribution to help offset some of the costs, but I will get that information together and give it to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I guess, to inform the House, there are a couple of things going on. Public Works and Services and ITI are involved in a couple of things on this facility, and so is CanNor.

There are two parallel streams going forward. We've hired an engineering firm to look at and do the structural investigation on the facility and what can be done and what needs to be done if anything can be done. At the same time, CanNor has supplied some money to do a business case on how do we move that forward for the Northern Frontier Visitors' Information Centre. That business case will decide if the current building...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories submitted a business case to the federal government under the National Infrastructure Fund and the New Building Canada Plan for $700 million. The federal government reviewed the business case, but it remains temporarily suspended depending on how the long-term plan for infrastructure money is going to be. We look forward to what the federal government has to say on the budget coming forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

First of all, this position still remains in Hay River, and to update the House, actually this job is at Human Resources. It's looking to become filled in the coming weeks, and with consultation on the job description moving forward we want to switch this job to an analyst position where it can look after agriculture and fishing. So this job remains in Hay River and it will look after both strategies.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is exactly what I'm hoping is going to happen with our deliberations with CanNor and Freshwater Marketing Corporation. Things are moving along, and when we make a deal I will announce it in the House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

First of all, the project is currently undergoing an environmental assessment by the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board. That was submitted or it was referred to an assessment in, if I remember correctly, end of July of 2016.

As we move forward and it works through that process, the next part of it was that we actually release the request for proposal to get assistance in developing the procurement documents for this project. Moving on from there, the next step will be going out to an RFQ process to see to get qualified bidders who can handle this project, the building of it and...