No further questions, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Recognizing Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I asked the Minister some questions about the Mining Incentive Program the other day. We have heard in several statements it is a great program that generates a lot of economic activity in the exploration sector. I also asked if this amount would be increased. I note that it is staying the same in this budget, and the ministry indicated that the long-term plan for the Mining Incentive Program is to expand it. Can the Minister just confirm that that is the department’s perspective of this very successful program? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. Minister?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is our expectation. We would hope to aspire to that before the end of the term of the 18th Legislative Assembly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Was this program modelled on the Yukon’s program? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We share information and adopt best practices, and we felt it was successful in the Yukon so it should be successful here as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Nothing further.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Recognizing Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I just would like to go back to the Mackenzie Valley development contribution of $400,000. I believe I heard the Minister say that we’re spending $100,000 for offices and salary and so on. What’s the other $300,000 for then? Thanks. Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Primarily for helping build business capacity in the Aboriginal governments, Aboriginal capacity building and community consultations, as well as resource pre-development program. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. This extra $300,000, does that go to the Aboriginal Pipeline Group or does it to go to individual Aboriginal governments upon application or how does… What’s it used for? Who can access it and how? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It’s application base. It’s available to Aboriginal governments, Aboriginal businesses, Aboriginal businessman. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Like a previous colleague speaking, I’m not sure why we continue to support the Aboriginal Pipeline Group when we’ve actually wound down our own office in Hay River, but in any event I’ll just leave that as a comment. I did want to ask, though, about Canadian Zinc socio-economic agreement. There’s $30,000 there and is that money that we contribute to the company or what is that money actually for? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That money is part of the socio-economic agreement that we negotiated with Canadian Zinc and it is money that we spend to meet with the communities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the answer. The description talks about a socio-economic advisory committee, so that money is used to support GNWT staff then to attend these committee meetings, is that what it’s used for? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The mine is not in operation so this is for preparatory work to set up an advisory committee when the mine is up and running. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. As I understand it, the property is basically sort of in care and maintenance. Do we actually expect to spend this money this year if there’s not much happening at the site? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Like we want to do, we are trying to anticipate and work with the communities to help build capacity, so when the project goes ahead they’ll be ready and we’ll be ready, and it would work in the best interests if the communities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the response. The Diavik socio-economic agreement funding of $50,000: it was my understanding that the company had done work to do away with the Diavik Communities Advisory Board. Is that body still working and if so can the Minister or staff tell me whether that board is still functioning? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Member is correct. The board is no longer in operation, but in lieu of it we meet with the communities with regards to Diavik. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I’m just trying to understand this a little bit better. The money appears in the contribution section, so to me that sort of indicates that we’re giving the money out to a third party, but what I hear the Minister saying is that the money’s actually used to support GNWT staff going to meetings. Am I misinterpreting or misunderstanding this in some way? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Archibald
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The money is for the purposes of implementation of the socio economic. The Member is correct that the Diavik Communities Advisory Board is not in existence anymore. In lieu of that, as the Minister stated, we meet with communities. This money represents contributions to the communities to prepare for those meetings, to host the meetings in their community, et cetera. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Archibald. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the answer. I think I understand much better now what the funding’s actually used for. I just want to move on to the Mining Incentive Program. Do we actually have any way to measure how effective this money has been in say the discovery of new properties? Have any of the properties that are being explored as a result of this program? Have any of them actually gone into production? How do we evaluate the effectiveness of the investment that’s made here? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Right now we primarily evaluate it or based on the… As we said, we spent a dollar, we get the industry to spend… It’s resulted in the industry spending $2.7. We’ve only had this program going for two years, so it’s too early for it to result in having a brand new mine developed. It is bringing in money for exploration which is the backbone of mining. The recipients have to provide the reports and in our prospectors grub stake, two prospectors have sold projects to junior mining companies. That will certainly be another indicator of success. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. That sounds helpful. I’m just wondering though, does the department think it would be a good idea to develop some sort of criteria or way to measure the success of this program? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I believe the fact that it’s oversubscribed and the fact that it’s resulted in increased spending and as an industry we already have a guideline that for every dollar you spend on geoscience it results in $5 on exploration and when it goes to development it’s about $150. We think that the criteria we have now is sufficient. We only have $400,000, so we don’t want to spend a lot of money developing additional criteria. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Recognizing time, I’ll allow one more question there, Mr. O’Reilly.
I think I’ll pass for now, Mr. Chair, because I’ve got some other things I’d like to explore on this page. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Recognizing Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to get some clarity questions. My question relates to on page 244 it says, “client service and community relations,” and I think last year it was a $1,109,000 and it’s decreased to $1,055.000. Maybe the Minister could explain just the reduction and just explain the nature of this initiative plans for this and community relations, whether it’s focused strictly on industry or is it as compared to the regulatory participation that we expect from a First Nations group? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Mr. Minister.
