Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left, I have Nina Salvador, director of finance and administration for ITI. On my immediate right, I have Deputy Minister Tom Jensen. On our far right, we have Tracy St-Denis, assistant deputy minister of economic development. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. One of the things that we did in the last little bit is we did a program review of Arctic Energy Alliance. We've updated committee on that to restructure that, to see that we -- this is a public facing energy efficiency and conservation renewal alternative energy program for the residents of the Northwest Territories. We wanted to make sure that these new programs lined up with the needs of the funding that we received, and we've rejigged a good portion of it. With the additional funding that we've got, we'll be able to expand some of our programs, and I believe that some...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Absolutely, we will share that with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I would. I am pleased to present the 2019-2020 Main Estimates for Industry, Tourism and Investment. Overall, the department's estimates propose an increase of $2.9 million or 5 percent over the 2018-2019 Main Estimates.

The estimates include several funding increases to support departmental priorities.

An increase in funding for tourism marketing is proposed to help our highest potential renewable-resource industry continue its growth. Also included is additional funding for parks operations to support their role in this growth while providing high-quality facilities...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Member makes it sound like we are in dire straits here in procured shared services, and that is clearly not the case. He and I have argued this on the floor of the House a number of times. The department is working on stuff. We made improvements to the RFP evaluation process. We do mandatory customer service training and fairness advisory training with all of our staff. There are a number of things that we continue to work on, and we continue to evaluate on procured shared services moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. If you look at the new mineral claims that have taken place in the Northwest Territories since 2015-2016 in particular and forward, the growth has been 165 percent, 175 percent, so, as a result of this increase in mineral activity registration transaction plan inquiries, there is a need to ensure that industry clients receive timely approvals of their claims, work-report filings, related transactions, necessary device, and support for their regulatory requirements related to mineral tender and management that is administered by the mining recorder's office are met. The...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That will be this fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I guess the one thing I would like to add to that is one thing that we did in this government, too, is we added a whole new region in the Northwest Territories and in the Sahtu, which, you know, there was some strong support from the Member from the Sahtu region to make them their own region. I think, as we are moved forward with five strong regions, the regional support has just gotten better by doing that, as well. That is just an extra comment I wanted to add. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's the answer that Ms. Salvador just gave him. There were contributions for 2017-2018 in order to promote the Northwest Territories and all those number of initiatives that were mentioned by the Director of Finance. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes, it does, Mr. Chair.