Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, developing regulations for the Mineral Resources Act is one of the key commitments from the Government of the Northwest Territories to support responsible resource development. This Act represents a new chapter for our mining sector, setting the stage for modernization and shared prosperity for residents, Indigenous governments, and our industry partners.

The Act and future regulation will increase opportunities for exploration by providing more time to explore claims before transitioning to leases and making it easier to collect high-quality geoscience data...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the primary driver of that is the Hay River fish plant. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, as long as there's nothing -- you know, no personal identifiers or something like that that couldn't be public disclosed, I'm always happen to be as transparent as possible as long as we're not infringing on a previous commitment made to the participants or anything like that. But I would like the opportunity just to ensure, but absolutely, so long as there's nothing wonky in there that I'm not aware of, then I would love the opportunity to share it.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. And, Mr. Chair, I appreciate the Member bringing this up, the multipliers within the film industry in the Northwest Territories are absolutely incredible, and so being able to capitalize on that is definitely worth our investment for sure. For that reason, in this budget from Main Estimate 2023-2024 and Main Estimate 2024-2025, you do see an increase in the film rebate program of $400,000, and there is future increases to come as well. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the difference in the main estimates come from a decrease of total of $200,000. So the first bit of that is $150,000 that is fiscal sustainability reduction. So what we're looking at here is rather than funding research for everything that kind of comes through our doors, really looking at making sure that we are funding collaborative research projects that speak to the priorities and goals of the Northwest Territories because a lot of these are driven by universities down south and might not be aligned with what we're wanting to research.

So one...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I don't have a list that is community specific. But just to give an idea of some of the things that the funds are going toward, there are -- there's everything from research project to infrastructure investment, local markets, community-based growing initiatives, community garden wages, business plans, community planning processes, educational initiatives, school gardens, and even training events. So it's a real broad range of where people are investing in this market and this area. There's a ton of potential across the territory, especially in the...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the -- it's not strictly a oil and gas division. It's mineral resources -- mineral and petroleum resource development. And so they are not strictly focused on petroleum or oil and gas. They are focused on all minerals. We have a total of 29 staff working in the Beaufort Delta out of a total of 104 working at headquarters. But those are total numbers across the board. The 104 also includes our economic development, our corporate management, our tourism and parks people, everybody. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, you know, I think that I spent a tremendous amount of time in the last term actually looking up knowledge economy and trying to figure out what people actually meant. So I hear the Member in that kind of the piece in there about really it means something slightly different to everybody else, but my understanding of it is essentially a system where production of goods and services is based on research and innovation and development of product in our territory. And I think the really neat thing about the Northwest Territories is you're able to really...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I agree with the Member that we definitely want to put our fund where we have high return on investment. That said, there is a significant amount of interest in the Northwest Territories right now at a time where we are also working to be fiscally responsible within the GNWT. And so, you know, we will certainly continue to assess the program as we go throughout the life of this Assembly, but also ensure that we are really riding on and encouraging further momentum. I don't think that at the end of the day this is going to make our break somebody's...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, for all of our contribution agreements within the Department of ITI, we always have a reporting mechanism, so yes.