Kieron Testart

Okay. That is an odd arrangement, but I will leave that the Minister to resolve, and I look forward to him reporting back to the House on progress made. Thank you.

My apologies if there's any confusion, Mr. Chair. I think the list is acceptable to me. I'm not sure about the other committee Members. They may have questions for the Minister, but I think being clear about where this money is going, but look, I think one of the best ways we can use these conservation funds is to get them in the hands of people who are doing that work. It seems like the government is doing that, and I appreciate that, notwithstanding concerns about the overall management of the Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program, but it does look like there's more money getting out to do...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The money made available, is it oversubscribed? Are more communities asking for assistance in their wildfire risk plans than the funding currently provides? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the clarification. What is this? The money in the grant, what is it used for by grant recipients? I'm just wondering if we can get just a brief summary of where this money goes and how it benefits the public policy objective of conservation efforts by this government. Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. In the forestry management agreements that we currently have in place for industrial purposes, is there a climate change or environmental lens applied to those agreements before they are signed or as they are signed, as they are developed? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, if we want innovators to come and invest in the Northwest Territories, we should be offering incentives for innovation such as a tax credit that would allow a research and development tax credit, a subsidy, a program that rewards that level of investment when they invest back in their business to do those things. It is our government's job to support that, and there is federal money available to do it, so will the Minister commit to developing an innovation strategy that will address some of these key points that I've raised today? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the clarification on that. The next question is about forestry resources, so just a general question: have we completed forestry inventories for all of our available forestry product stock in the Northwest Territories for the purposes of industrial and economic harvesting? Thank you.

I won't remind the Minister of his deputy's remarks yesterday, but again, we're hearing that not much is going on, and it's not that new. That table, perhaps the current incarnation of that table is new, but the federal budget commitment has been there for a while, and so has the money. The Minister spoke about clusters. What is the path forward for the NWT? Should we be looking to forming partnerships with the other northern territories to build up an innovation cluster for ourselves, or should we be looking to partner with Alberta? What's the path forward on knowledge clusters?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I am just wondering about the department's logic behind it. I mean it seems like this is a very large appropriation based on the amount of people who are actually benefitting from the grant. Is there a reason that the appropriation is $100,000 when it seems like, for the two years that are indicated in these documents, we have $10,000 and then $30,000? How would the Minister characterize the planning that goes behind the $100,000 figure? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Conclusion

The Standing Committee on Government Operations' Review of Bill 1 is the result of a collaborative process. The standing committee wishes to thank the Minister for her concurrence with the motions made by the committee to amend the bill. The committee thanks the public for their participation in the review process and everyone involved in the review of this bill for their assistance and input.

Following the clause-by-clause review, a motion was carried to report Bill 1, Western Canada Lottery Act, as amended and reprinted, as ready for consideration in...