Wally Schumann

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...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Construction of the Canyon Creek all-season road access, we are expecting it to begin in March of this year, 2017. This is expected to be completed by October of 2018. We are very glad to announce this project. It is going to bring significant employment to the region, and training, as I said in my earlier comments. It is going to bring approximately 50 jobs to the region and help with the training aspect of a number of individuals. We contributed to our mandate working forward. Thank you for that, Mr. Speaker.

The department is working to advance the next priority phase of the project, the Bear River Bridge. In particular, the department is conducting a review of the original design that was done in 2005. What we want to do is make sure it is compliant with current codes and standards in addition to the funding that was received earlier in the new year. We are working on the Canyon Creek project to move that along. This project will bring training and experience gained by the Sahtu residents that will be used towards the next phase of the construction of the Mackenzie Valley Highway.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This manager position is located in Yellowknife. Its duties are a pan-territorial responsibility and it's best fit here in the ITI headquarters, and we have no plans on moving this position to Hay River.

As this is a mandated item for this Government of the Northwest Territories and it is my file and it's very important to me, if we don't make a deal before the end of this fiscal year I will be asking to carry this over in the summer.

I thank the Member for his eagerness, but there is a process that we have in place here, and we're engaging Freshwater Fish Marketing Corp., we're engaged with the federal government at our level, we have our colleagues on the other side of the House through committee. There's a number of things that we need to do, and I think if time permitting let this process work its way through the system here for the next little bit. As I said, we're getting very close to coming to an agreement with Freshwater, with an MOU and a business plan that we start moving on. As he stated, we are both from Hay...

The important thing about the $1.4 million that's been carried over from last fiscal year to this fiscal year is for the Department of ITI to use that as leverage for the funding that we are putting forward to CanNor to give us the best potential to help build the plant in Hay River. That being said, the Member actually had two questions there, if we weren't able to make a deal with Freshwater on that moving forward, what could we potentially do with that money. Well, that would have to be a discussion along with myself and our colleagues in this House if we want to shift the priorities of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Mining Incentive Program is one of the things we heard around the table, as I said, along with a number of other things that I've previously mentioned. I will not commit to doing a cost-benefit analysis, just because I know going down there, meeting with industry, meeting with the Mining Advisory Board, the Chamber of Mines, the input that we get from a number of stakeholders, be it industry, like I said, or governments, or financial institutions, moving this file forward is to get down there and be in front of these stakeholders that want to look in the Northwest...