Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’ll take the Member’s request under advisement. We have other boards as well that fulfills the functions that the Member has raised so we’ll see how we can best serve the interests of the people in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair, and I appreciate that commitment from the Minister. I guess what’s driving my concern or issue here is that the department is committed to develop a Mineral Resources Act, and that’s something that I support as well, but there are some, I think, fundamental issues that are going to arise during the development of that legislation such as whether we want to continue the free entry system as the preferred or the only method of managing mineral resources. I’m just a little bit concerned that the Minister would be getting advice on that legislation primarily from the Mineral Industry Advisory Board which is made up of the mining industry, and I’m just worried about the fairness of that sort of process. That’s why I’m raising these issues. I’d like to ask the Minister if the Mineral Industry Advisory Board is going to be giving the Minister advice on drafting and putting together this legislation. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It’s one body not the only body that will give us advice. We’ll go out for a broad range of input so I don’t see it as only relying on one body. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I don’t want to prolong this. I appreciate the commitment from the Minister. Would the department be prepared to provide its communications plan on how it’s going to put together the Minerals Resources Act to the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We work very closely with the committees and I fully expect that we will share that information. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Mr. Chair, that’s the questions I have on this page. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Further questions? Recognizing none. Moving on. Page 246, Industry, Tourism and Investment, minerals and petroleum resources, active positions. Any questions? Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. There’s some significant changes in the staffing levels. Can the Minister or staff explain generally what’s going on and how many of those positions are vacant? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Seventeen positions reductions, 12 are filled, five are vacant. I provided this information the other day, but I’m pleased to present it again. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I’ve probably been asleep at the wheel for a while here, but 17 and 12, it looks to me like there’s a difference here of 11 positions in this section. Can the Minister tell me what happened with those 11 positions, generally what they are, and whether they were vacant or not? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Mr. Minister.
Mr. Chair, seven headquarters positions, two South Slave positions, two Inuvik positions:
one administrative assistant, vacant;
one manager petroleum royalty administration, filled;
one manager industrial initiatives, filled;
one industrial initiatives analyst, vacant;
two mining recorder clerks, filled;
two district geologists, one vacant;
one transfer of a mineral DS position to MPR, vacant;
two South Slave positions for Mackenzie Valley pipeline petroleum office, filled;
two transfer of marketing promotions to MPR from corporate management, filled;
two Inuvik positions;
one oil and gas offshore specialist, filled;
one rights administrator, vacant.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. No more questions.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Questions? Seeing none. We shall go back to activity total on page 244, Industry, Tourism and Investment, minerals and petroleum resources, operations expenditure summary. Activity total: $16,078,000.
Agreed.
Agreed. Okay, moving on. Page 249, Industry, Tourism and Investment, tourism and parks, operations expenditure summary. We shall move on detail starting with page 249. Industry, Tourism and Investment, tourism and parks, grants, contributions and transfers. Questions? Recognizing Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the convention bureau, under the description it notes that “the contributions to NWT Tourism to establish a convention bureau for the NWT.” I know that the convention bureau aspect of NWT Tourism is having some very positive effects on the Northwest Territories. That department, amongst other things, does a lot of work as it relates to promoting the North and then attracting outside associations to host their AGMs and the like here. I just wonder if this is funding that we’ll see on an ongoing basis. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes. Yes, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Vanthuyne.
I appreciate that we’re going to see this money indefinitely. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Could I have more detail about the convention bureau, what’s planned with that initiative? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess I should clarify. MLA Vanthuyne said it would be indefinitely; I wouldn’t go as far to say it will be indefinitely, it will go until 2018-19. The convention bureau works with regions and communities to determine their capacity, what capacity they have to host conventions, and we try to match up whatever interests there are for conventions in the Northwest Territories so that other communities besides Yellowknife also have opportunities and other regions also have the potential to host conventions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. For clarification, does the convention bureau also do work in Yellowknife or is it primarily focused on the communities? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. Minister.
It does work on behalf of all the communities in the Northwest Territories, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I noticed community tourism infrastructure, remains at $100,000. Does the department have an inventory of the project that it supports and can it share what that money went towards in 2015-16? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we have that information and it’s in our annual grants and contributions report and we can provide that information to the Member or I could read it out for him right now if that’s what he wants. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. What’s your wish, Mr. Testart?
I can review the report, Mr. Chair, thank you. I note one of the complaints I guess or criticism of our otherwise spectacular and ever growing tourism market is there’s not enough things to do in our communities. I think this contribution could bear a lot of fruit in developing our tourism market by having more attractions and drawing more people in. Has the department taken a look at how to use this funding to kind of produce more tourism draws in our communities and get more people coming? For instance, just going back to the convention bureau, our convention space is rather limited; we don’t have a convention centre in Yellowknife, for example, so it somewhat caps our ability to bring in large venues and national organizations who want to have their conventions here. Has the department taken a look at using this funding, or perhaps even increasing this funding to develop more capacity for tourism support in our communities? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We provide $3.3 million to NWT Tourism, and we’re always looking at ways to improve our program. If building community infrastructure… Sort of if you build it they will come. Generally we take the approach of having tourism products developed. We have a large focus on Aboriginal tourism right now and certainly the community tourism infrastructure is fully subscribed as well. Whatever opportunities we have to increase our tourism products, we try to take advantage of that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the Minister for his comments. Can I get the total amount that it’s subscribed by in dollar figures, if the department has that handy? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We’d have to dig that up. We just have the actual that was awarded for 2014-15 right now. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sorry, we provided $225,000 in 2014-15. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
