Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I have mentioned, there is only so much money that this government has. We have our processes and deliberations on how we want to spend that money, and everyone in this House is included. This is what I have been allocated, and I will continue to fight for more money for my department, but as the Member quite knows, there is not enough money to go around for everything this government wants to achieve. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I think the Member better take his rose-coloured glasses off, the way he's making comments, there. I have had a few people; like I have said, probably five people. I'm going to stay to five people who have come to me about procurement. The chair of SCEDE is doing a report. I will sit down and have that conversation with SCEDE, but I am not going to sit here and get into a debate if it's one, 10, or 15 people. If the Member has 15 people coming to him, maybe he should come to my office. He doesn't stop by my office and talk about procurement issues. He can do that any time he wants...

I am assuming the Member is speculating about the availability of goods and supplies for those operations. Again, we are not aware of this as an immediate concern. We recognize that this is an extraordinary situation that we are dealing with. There is no manual with all the answers, but we are addressing the reality of this situation head-on.

As the Minister of Infrastructure, I assure the Member and this House and the people of Nunakput that we will do what we need to do. I have said that continually in this House. We can't do everything, particularly around a number of questions I always get...

Yes, 2020 is coming due, and we have made successful milestones. As all Members of this House know, we have already achieved probably what we wanted to there as far as number of tourists coming to the Northwest Territories and the amount of money spent in the NWT. We will continue to work on that. We will probably be releasing some of those numbers shortly, of last year's visitations and money spent in the NWT, and I think most Members will be happy.

We will be working closely with all proponents, being us and Members of this House, for feedback, as well as NWT Tourism to develop 2025. I just...

As I have said, I only have the money that is allocated to me, but I am glad to sit down with committee. Anytime they want to have a discussion on how we can improve different funding levels for different programs within my portfolio, I am glad to do that, but the real crux of this is we only have so much money that this government has. If you are going to give it to me, you are going to have to take it from someone else on this side of the room, so that is the hard discussion that we are going to have to make here. Without increasing revenues in this territory and attracting more capital and...

The department has a number of mechanisms that we can support business and provide business relief. I would encourage any business that is in this situation being described by the Member to contact our regional office and talk to one of our client personnel. ITI will look at individual applications and present it on a case-by-case basis for assistance under our SEED program.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, ITI has to work within the constraints of the budgetary process and the money that we are allocated. We have had a serious look at the SEED Program. This House knows that. We looked at it last year. We have changed things around to try to make things better for entrepreneurs by changing certain parameters around programs and having regional supports. We will continue to do that within the budget that we have. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When ITI is up in Committee of the Whole, and I believe we are probably going to be one of the first ones up, we have a capital budget of a significant investment of, I cannot remember the exact number, but we will be able to deliberate our capital investment around infrastructure and tourism when I get into the Committee of the Whole around all regions of the Northwest Territories.

I think he is asking my opinion, and I am not going to give him the satisfaction of answering a question like that. I have made it quite clear, when we go to the Committee of the Whole, I want this Member to specifically ask me the question about his section of road, and he will be very happy with the answer that he is going to get. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories' Marine Transportation Services delivers essential goods by tug and barge to all marine-accessible communities in the NWT. Residents rely on services to receive such items as fuel, food, and household goods, while commercial customers also require fuel, mobile equipment, and building supplies to support their businesses and provide economic growth for the territory.

Mr. Speaker, Marine Transportation Services launched its second sailing season on June 20th this year from the port of Hay River. For the 2018 sailing season, the delivery of...