Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to clarify something. I think the Member said that I sent the letter. I didn't send the letter; the regional superintendent sent the letter on behalf of the Department of Infrastructure. This was done as a formal correspondence on this file. It was a required course of business through the environmental process, and the letter was sent respecting the firewall. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, May 31, 2018, I will move that Bill 21, An Act to Amend the Northwest Territories Business Development Investment Corporation Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can update this House that the Department of ITI and NWT Tourism has provided financial support to the City of Yellowknife, and what they are using that money for is to hire a consultant team to determine a long-term model that will work for delivery of tourism visitor information services in Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would have to work with my colleagues in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the permitting around the federal situation, because Waters is under the federal jurisdiction. What that permitting would include, I am sure there is a lower threshold, depending on the amount that we would want to dredge. It could be the possibility of a backhoe doing it in the wintertime or something off a barge, but these are the types of questions that I can check with the department and get back to the Member, on what a short-term measure would be. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would have to have a discussion with my department and get back to the Member on that.

Let me reassure the House and residents of the Northwest Territories that it is not just the Regular MLA from Hay River pushing this issue. I will tell you that. This has been brought up at a number of federal FPT meetings. It has been brought up one-on-one with the federal Ministers. I continue to push this thing. The bureaucracy pushes back, maybe, a little bit, as I have said in this House, around ocean protection money.

We will continue to pursue the federal money to do the dredging in the Hay River Harbour, as it is a priority, particularly since we are the owner of MTS and the Coast Guard...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I have stated before in this House, the Taltson project was one of our pan-Canadian asks around the Climate Change Strategic Framework. This is an important project, we believe, but it is also in the very early stages. I think, once we get a little more information from the federal government, if they are supportive of this project going forward, at that time we will sit down with Indigenous governments and figure out their involvement going forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, I am the champion of mining in the Northwest Territories, and I will continue to do that. At the same time, this is an agreement between Dominion Diamond and their employees and the union, and this is something that needs to be worked out between them. We do not impose ourselves on contracts or employees in a manner that tries to tell a private business how to run their business. I will not do that, but I am very concerned about meeting our socio-economic agreements, and we will work with all parties involved to try to ensure as many northern jobs are protected and that commitments are...

If those types of conversations took place, they would have taken place at a level below me. I could certainly have a look at that. I think that one of the things going forward, something that has crossed my mind is particularly the Fred Henne Park, which is right here in the City of Yellowknife. I think we need to have a discussion of maybe the city wants to take that over or maybe the YK Dene or somebody. There is an opportunity there, I think, for either one of them to latch onto that, and we can have a discussion around that.

As far as expanding new parks across the system, I am not aware...

One thing, let's make it quite clear, most of these jobs, as I have been informed, are mostly NWT residents, and we are quite concerned about that. Particularly as the Minister of ITI, I have a very big concern about that. We want to keep these jobs in our territory, but, at the same time, this is an issue between the union and Dominion Diamond. If there is an issue that they can't work out and they want someone to help facilitate, I would certainly direct my department to try to help them do that. We want to make sure that Dominion Diamond, regardless of the outcome of this, that they meet...