R.J. Simpson

Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Tabled Document 261-18(2), Northwest Territories Main Estimates, 2017-2018. I would like to report progress. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. There is a motion on the floor to report progress. The motion is in order and non-debatable. All those in favour? All those opposed?

---Carried

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question. I won't put the Minister on the spot by asking him to justify why the manager of fisheries and agriculture is in Yellowknife. We know it can't be justified. So can I get the Minister to not just look into moving this position? It doesn't even need to be looked into. Can we just have this position moved to where it logically should be, in Hay River? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

He had me pretty nervous, there. If this deal isn't struck and this money isn't spent by the end of this fiscal year, can this community have a guarantee that this $1.4 million will be put back into the 2017-18 budget?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Two days ago I spoke about the commercial fishing industry. The proposed budget released yesterday means that I'm talking about it again. Noticeably absent from that budget is the $1.4 million dollars that had been set aside for the last two years to revitalize the commercial fishing industry and to build the fish processing plant in Hay River. The Minister told me Tuesday in this House that there were plans for that money, but now we see that it's not included in the budget at all.

Does this mean that revitalizing the fishery is no longer a priority of the government...

I will now rise and report progress.

I now call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of Committee? Mr. Testart.

An ask isn't a guarantee. I assumed the Ministers had the power to do more than just ask, but I'll take it for now. ITI has an agricultural consultant position. I spoke about it earlier. It's located here in Yellowknife. You know, with the beautiful, fertile ground in Yellowknife it only makes sense, right? Well, no, this used to be back in Hay River, you know, the heart of agriculture. I don't even know why I have to ask this, but can I get a guarantee from the Minister that this position will be moved back to Hay River? Better yet, can it be re-profiled so it's agriculture and fisheries...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regard to the money that the government had put aside to help revitalize the commercial fishery, two days ago when I questioned the Minister of ITI about this he said, "The important thing about the $1.4 million is for the Department of ITI to use that as leverage for the funding that we are putting forward to CanNor to give us the best potential to help build that plant in Hay River," and he said, "We're getting very close to an agreement with Freshwater regarding the plant."

So, Mr. Speaker, because this $1.4 million isn't in next year's budget, is it because the...

This highlights the problem with this whole junior kindergarten debate. I'll go back to the boards, and they'll come back to me with a different number, and so it's just he said, she said, so it's going to take some digging here. I'm not saying the Minister isn't truthful. I'm just saying I'm getting different answers from different people.

So how will this $2.7 million roll out? Is it going to be $1.5 million the first year, $1.2 million the second year? Is there a plan for that yet?