Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m only asking because there was a big increase and I see the importance of the investment in the economy and getting our people working and trying to get investors into the Northwest Territories as well as bring up tourists and diversify our economies in the Sahtu and Inuvik, in the Beaufort-Delta and those areas. So I’m in agreement.
I just wanted to know if the process was undertaken when the department was going through their operations budget. The only reason why is because we do have standing committees that go through these budgets very thoroughly and very detailed, not only this department but all other departments, and there are suggestions that are brought up not only in this budget but even our last budget. We were given a straight out no in terms of investments and a lot of it is investments in people’s health, their education and other areas, and the departments have been reflective. What concerns me is that some of the action plans we’re doing will not have the exact resources that they need.
So I just wanted to ask, and I know some colleagues of mine want to make sure that each department does go through their fiscal restraint policy when moving forward.
With that said, moving on, as I said, the tourism industry I think is thriving and it’s starting to get some strong momentum moving forward in getting people up in the Northwest Territories. I commend the department on that work. I had questions earlier in the House today and it’s nice to see that money is going out into the communities.
The film industry that was mentioned, that’s another thriving industry that’s doing a lot of really good work. That $100,000, is that new dollars on top of the dollars that they got last year? I think they got $100,000 last year as well. Is this new funding for them? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the Member for his remarks as well. We had $100,000 through SEED, the SEED program last year. The $100,000 you see this year is specific to the new program that we have, the Film Rebate Program that we have this year. We’re hopeful that we are going to see, given the fact that the Canadian dollar is down and the cost of fuel is down as well, is going to be a contributing factor in us trying to get some more people here doing location filming here in the Northwest Territories. So things are looking up in that regard and we’re hopeful that this new program is going to help. Thank you.
That’s great. I know we’ve had a lot of discussions here over the years on that rebate program and I’m glad to see that it’s moving forward.
In terms of the SEED funding, I had questions last week I believe. When was the last time it was reviewed? We want to really support our small businesses right now in the communities, in the regions that are having a hard time making it by when the economy is bad. So I’m not going to need an answer on that. I got my answers in the House last week. I just wanted to mention it again.
A big one in here is the agriculture. I know there have been some big announcements made lately, but in terms of agriculture in the communities, we see a lot more community gardens in the summer, we see the greenhouses like in Inuvik. We also see, I think they’re hydroponic plants, or there’s one in Weledeh, one in East Three School that grow food all year long. I think if we could make more of an investment in those, we’d get kids learning how to grow and become kind of like farmers I guess.
Just a couple more comments. The traditional economy, the Minister mentioned it earlier and I wanted to reference that when we talk about tourism. Tourism is good when we’re trying to get people to come to the Territories, but the Minister saw at the NWT Days Gala, we had a lady there with some fantastic jewellery, everybody was going to her booth, as well as the fur industry as well. I think we need to support those guys as much as we’re supporting the film industry.
Just under the traditional economy, something that has been very successful but we’re seeing a decline lately is the Great Northern Arts Festival. I have made Member’s statements and I have asked questions about it over the years and we’re seeing a decline in participation. But we’re still seeing a lot of good art produced throughout the Northwest Territories. I think the Great Northern Arts Festival’s board of directors might be having a hard time just seeking funding, getting funding, obviously because of the increased costs of the hotels, increased cost of food, all those lead up to it. So that $25,000 that we’ve been giving them for I can’t even remember how far back we’ve been staying on it, it has never increased and I think the government should take a look at how we can increase their funding, even for this year. That would be really great.
I think Mr. Yakeleya’s idea of a winter park is kind of unique, it’s innovative, and in fact, during our Sunrise Festival we actually had a little ice road village, a little village down on Boot Lake. It was really great and I think that’s something that would sell.
Just some comments. If the Minister would like to comment on a few of them, that would be great.
I’m not too sure if the Minister holds an economic conference in the Northwest Territories and what kind of businesses come to that. Is it all sectors? Is it just focused on certain sectors? But whether or not he does hold a conference… I think that would be a great way for people to network and learn about some of these funding sources. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
The Member covered off a lot of ground, but I’ll try to go back over it. We do have to continue our support to jewellery makers and we’re happy to have jewellery workshops. I know we talked a long time about having those and we got those off the ground last year. We’re happy to do that. We’d have to continue to support that sector.
Also, on the fur side, we are now responsible for marketing fur. The other side of that has gone over to ENR, and we will continue to work with ENR on that.
We continue to be, and have been, a major sponsor of the Great Northern Arts Festival in Inuvik. I know the Member spoke of our $25,000 contribution and the possibility that that’s not enough money. That’s something we can take back to the region. We’ll take his comments away with us today and see what we can come up with there.
On whether or not we’ve had an economic conference here in the Northwest Territories, it typically happens by sector. The Chamber of Commerce would have an event that I’d be invited to speak at and, on the agriculture side, the Territorial Farmers’ Association. Also, we have an Economic Development Practitioners Conference that we help host, so I’ve attended those. So there are a number of things that happen every year. NWT Tourism has their annual general meeting that I’m at, and Geoscience as well. So there’s a number of events throughout the year that I get to and I speak at.
The idea of having one big conference, I think, is something that, you know, as we move on maybe it might bear some fruit.
I thank the Member for his comments and his continued support in us growing the economy here. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Ramsay. Continuing on with general comments, I have Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a few comments. The Minister spoke a bit here about the fur industry, and it’s thriving fairly well, but there are some concerns that the fur prices might be a bit low this year. A number of my constituents raised the concern that prices for fox, beaver and I believe it was mink are fairly low. For the amount of work that they go through to harvest these animals, you know, $35 advances are very low and there’s really no incentive for people to harvest them.
The populations are really increasing and we need to do something here to help manage that. I know it is under ENR, but the Minister’s department does look after the Mackenzie Valley fur industry. So there’s that there.
I also wanted to bring up the film industry. I know there are more funds for the film industry this year. I’d just like to ask the Minister, is there a separate fund for… You know, I have a constituent who’s really interested in making films. He actually made one this past year about the centennial canoe race that happened down the Mackenzie River, and the team from Fort McPherson won at that time and they documented that. It’s really very interesting and good to educate our youth as well. They are planning to do another one on square dancing and jigging and all the people who were influential in that, and other areas, as well, traditional harvesting. You know, they’d like to film a lot more of that and also pass that on to our youth in the community. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Minister Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Member is correct; fur prices have come off somewhat, but the Northwest Territories still is considered one of the best wild furs in the world. When the Premier and I were in China recently, we had five new buyers that wanted to purchase NWT fur and become buyers at the auction in Helsinki that’s coming up. So we have to continue marketing the fur and the opportunity that our fur provides us. The fact that the money that gets to the trapper is money that goes into the local economy at the community level, and I don’t think we can underestimate what the support that the government provides to the trapping industry here really does for the small communities around the Northwest Territories. It’s really something that we have to continue to support and it is something we will continue to support.
There have been some changes here on new initiatives. When ENR is before the House, Members will have a chance to ask the Minister about new initiatives when it comes to fur. But we will continue working with ENR on our marketing efforts through ITI.
On the filmmaker that the Member spoke of, we do have, as I mentioned earlier to MLA Moses, $100,000 earmarked through our SEED program. This new rebate program that I spoke of is the kind of program that a producer could avail themselves of some funding through that. It could really help them be the difference in getting a film made or not. So I would encourage the Member to let that person know that they should contact the regional office in Inuvik if they’re up in the Beaufort-Delta in one of the Member’s communities. If they’re here in Yellowknife, we have the Film Commission here. Our staff at ITI in Yellowknife would be happy to help them, happy to point them in the right direction and get them some of the assistance that they need to get into making film here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Just one more thing. I know in the past it has been the practice to go to the auction house but also to some fur auctions and also take harvesters from the communities, usually one from each region.
I’d like to ask the Minister, do they plan to do that? I was actually one of them that went to North Bay back in I think it was ’97 or something. It’s really interesting. You know, you see the whole process right from when you harvest it to handling and they even show you, pick out one fur and just put down the tag number and it tells you where it came from. It’s a very interesting process and it really encourages harvesters as well. Thank you.
The Member is correct; we have to continue to have trappers help us promote their fur, the fur that they’re harvesting. We have a great relationship with Fur Harvesters Auction and we have taken trappers in the past. Just on our recent trade mission to China and Japan, we had Andrew Stanley with us. Andrew is a trapper out of Hay River and he was a really good ambassador for the trapping industry for the Northwest Territories. People loved talking to him about what it was like living on a trapline, trapping wild animals. He certainly is a great ambassador for the industry. We were happy to have him there. As we move forward, continuing to take part in auctions, it’s important that we have trappers there to help us.
Also, the chief of Colville Lake, Alvin Orlias; and a trapper, Joe Kochon, have been invited to attend the next auction scheduled for June 2015 in North Bay. Of course, they’ll be accompanied by an official from ITI. So that’s just an example of how we’re trying to integrate the trappers into our marketing efforts. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Ramsay. General comments.
Detail.
Is committee prepared to go to detail?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Committee, we’re going to defer page 253 until we have consideration of activity detail. With that, I’ll ask committee to turn to page 254, revenue summary, information item. Any questions?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Page 255, active position summary, information item. Any questions?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Page 256, NWT Business Development and Investment Corporation, active positions, information item. Any questions?
Agreed.
Committee, page 259, corporate management, operations expenditure summary, $9.350 million. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Committee, page 260, corporate management, active positions, information item. Any questions?
Agreed.
Committee, page 263, economic diversification and business support, operations expenditure summary, $22.776 million. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Page 264, economic diversification and business support, grants, contributions and transfers, total grants and contributions, $11.844 million. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Page 266, economic diversification and business support, active positions, information. Any questions?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Page 269, minerals and petroleum resources, operations expenditure summary, $17.175 million. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Page 270, minerals and petroleum resources, grants, contributions and transfers, total contributions, $1.325 million. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Page 271, mineral and petroleum resources, active positions, information item. Any questions?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Page 273, office of the regulator of oil and gas operations, operations expenditure summary, $2.185 million. Mr. Yakeleya.
I have one short question, Mr. Chair. I want to ask, given the situation in the North here, and specifically the Sahtu region, are the partnership meetings that are happening in our region in the Sahtu that involve various departments still active and they’re still making suggestions and recommendations with the government, oil companies and the communities and making some progress in the work that could be done and what work can be looked at and making plans for just in case the industry does come back on a large scale or a small scale?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, we continue to work with CanNor. This is outside the OROGO office, but we do continue to work with communities. We work with CanNor. We also have inherited a number of staff from AANDC who are helping us get into the communities and work with communities in preparation for oil and gas development.
Thank you, Minister Ramsay. Committee, we’re on page 273, office of the regulator of oil and gas operations, operations expenditure summary, $2.185 million. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Page 274, office of the regulator of oil and gas operations, active positions, information item. Any questions?
Agreed.
Committee, page 277, tourism and parks, operations expenditure summary, $14.191 million. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Page 278, tourism and parks, grants, contributions and transfers, total contributions, $5.258 million. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Page 279, tourism and parks, active positions, information item. Any questions?
