Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The federal government has never charged rental rates on significant discovery licences, provided there was a significant discovery declaration in place when the STL was issued. Among the terms and conditions tied to exploration licences, a 25 percent work bid deposit was paid and drilling activity was required in order to maintain the licence for a full term. Interest holders are also required to pay rentals in the second period of an exploration licence as part of a condition to hold an exploration licence for nine years. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That is a fairly detailed question. I don't have the document in front of me. If I remember right, we list by client, by region, by sector, by program area, and so on in the document, but I think that I can confirm that there are two different accountings of the same funding.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. ITI supports the economy in a bunch of different ways. The grants and contributions document is a testament to that. It is a roll-up of various ways that we invest in industry, businesses, and entrepreneurs across the Northwest Territories. That said, we also have appropriate but different ways of reporting out of each of these funding areas. We presently have various accounting spending in this House. I have tabled the BDIC report in this House, community futures, investments in the Northwest Territories Tourism Marketing Plan. Staff and myself regularly get out and...

I will try to make the afternoon, seeing as it's a Friday. This is an interim measure that we have put in place because we saw there was a gap in this one post devolution. The PRA is going to be taken on the road by the Member and his committee, and there will be input from the public if they want to have input on this. Everyone in the Northwest Territories can have input on legislation that is going to be put out there, amongst consultation with all members of the Northwest Territories, industry, and Indigenous governments, and I welcome all comments back on what we want to do around SDLs...

I don't see why we can't do that. We can certainly have a conversation with the Member. I will talk with the department, but I don't see why we would not make those rates public if we are going to impose them on industry.

There were a number of issues that were raised by the Northern Manufacturers' Association, and I believe that this is one of them that we are looking at and trying to figure out a way to address it.

As I have said, we are having a look at this. There are a number of options that are available on the table and, if the Member has any solution besides just throwing money at this, I would gladly ask him to come down to my office and give me some solutions that will work on this, and any Member on the other side of the House. This is not an easy problem to solve. Sure, we may kind of make a laugh and a joke about it in the House, but this is a situation, as the Member said, that has been going on for a long time. It is going to take some money and some ingenuity and some innovation to figure...

No, I can't guarantee that. As I said in the House the other day when the Member asked me these questions, this is a very challenging situation for us, and I might not even be the Minister of ITI after September 1st. Who knows who is going to be here trying to deal with this situation, but I said we are doing our winter strategy review and we are having to look at the situation and trying to come up with a solution to deal with this. As I said before, if the Members across the House want to get behind me and they ask for more money for this initiative, please do so.

Mr. Speaker, ensuring Northwest Territories highways are a safe place for all road users is a top priority for the Government of the Northwest Territories. The challenges we face in regard to road safety are constantly evolving, and these challenges must often be met with unique and innovative solutions. In addition to the work undertaken each year to maintain and upgrade the engineering component of our highways, the Department of Infrastructure is also committed to staying up to date on policy and legislative initiatives aimed at making our roads safer. This afternoon I would like to share...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 572-18(3), Safety Issues on the Dempster Highway." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.