Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. They also would be serviced out of the Hay River District Office. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Anything further, Mr. Nadli?
No further questions.
Recognizing Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm on page 198, Corporate Management. Under policy, legislation and communications, I see that last year the department was not able to spend the amount that was put into the main estimates. This year there is a further reduction. I mentioned in my opening remarks how this department has a number of important legislative initiatives that it keeps saying it's going to bring forward. Can the Minister explain to me how these legislative initiatives are going to come forward on time when the department is making reductions? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As we have said, we have talked about it in the House a number of times on how we are going to bring LPs forward. We believe that we can get the job done within the life of this Legislative Assembly, and we have a number of initiatives that are coming forward as the Member has said in his opening comments, and we will be bringing those forward in a timely manner; and we believe we will be able to do that in the length of this Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the response from the Minister, but I'm just not sure how he can commit to bringing forward legislation while he's cutting the budget for it. I will just leave it at that for that one.
I have a further question under the expenditure category. I see where contract services is once again, last year, not all of the money was spent, and this year, there's a reduction in that. Can the Minister or his staff explain what's going on with the money allocated for contract services? Now, I presume that some of this might be used to help bring forward some of the legislation that's been promised. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister, the first portion was a comment to the question.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will turn that over to the director of finance. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Director of finance.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The decrease from 2016-17 to 2017-18 is a result of a reallocation, an internal transfer we did to reinstate the Tourism Product Diversification Budget. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the answer, thank you. Can the Minister or his staff explain the decrease in purchased services from 2016-17 to what is in the current estimates for 2017-18? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will direct that to the director of finance as well.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Ms. Director.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is an internal reallocation to compensation and benefits. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I think that is all the questions I have for corporate management. I just am scrolling through. Once again, I want to go on record in saying that I find it difficult to understand how the department is going to continue with a very ambitious legislative agenda while it is cutting its policy legislation and communications budget at the same time. We have already seen delays, and I am afraid we are going to see more delays from this department, and I think evidence, the request for qualifications for the Mineral Resources Act, we may not see that until 2018 now.
Once again, I urge the department and the Minister to bring forward this important legislation as timely as he can, recognizing he's got less money to do the work. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Your comment is noted. Mr. Simpson.
This section deals with strategic planning policy. My colleague touched on much of it. Our mandate states that ITI will develop a manufacturing strategy. In the 2016-17 business plan, there is mention that it is planning to develop an NWT manufacturing strategy. The 2017-18 business plan, there's a partial sentence that says, a future NWT manufacturing strategy. I was wondering, what's the status of this manufacturing strategy? Is it on the radar? I know that, in Hay River alone, there have been, in the past year, 50 jobs created in manufacturing. I'm not sure what else, what other industries are growing like that, so I'm not sure why the department isn't putting a premium on this. What's the status of this manufacturing strategy? When can we expect it? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As the Member knows, this was something that I was working on before I got elected, and it is definitely not something I am going to drop the ball on as the Minister of ITI. We continued to work with the manufacturing strategy as recently as when I was home lately. I brought up the conversation with some of the Members who are on the Manufacturers' Association, and when are they going to try to pull together another meeting and get things moving on their side of things. We are supporting a development of marketing and promoting of them. That is what the department has worked on. I have seen a draft of some of the literature that is going to be sent out to all departments in the Government of Northwest Territories to help promote and ensure that people are aware of who is developing what, or who manufactures what, and what's available to all departments in the Northwest Territories. We will continue to work with the Manufacturers' Association to try to improve manufacturing in the Northwest Territories. Like I said, reassure the Member, and he knows well full that I was a big part of this before I got elected, and we will continue to work on it moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Simpson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the Minister for that answer. I was well aware that you were a big part of the Manufacturers' Association. It does not mean I am going to let up on this for the next two-and-a-half years. I will have some comments about the marketing sheets that the department has produced in the next section.
Does the Minister say that he is waiting for the association to get together and have a meeting? Is the department being proactive, or is it just sitting back and waiting for this association to have a meeting and bring forth some sort of proposal to the department? Has that been communicated to the association formally, that they need to bring something to the department in order to get this started? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's funny that he has asked that question because, as of lately, I have asked the ADM to reach out to the Manufacturers' Association because they haven't been in much contact with us with their association since last year, and I've asked her to reach out to see what we can do about facilitating at least an annual meeting and see what kind of a discussion we can have them then. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Simpson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I imagine the Members are quite busy because it's a growing, thriving industry and so I can't wait to get some additional support in the form of this strategy. No more questions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Simpson.
Next I have Mr. O'Reilly, I believe.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Since the previous speaker opened the door to consideration of policy matters under corporate management, can I ask the Minister: is this where funding is found for drafting of the work that's going to get under way soon for a Mineral Resources Act, or is it found further on into the departmental budget? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Is this the appropriate place to discuss this or would it be better suited in minerals and petroleum resources? Thank you, Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My understanding is part of it is here and part of it is under MPR, so it's in both sections. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. It sounds like the Member can speak to it here if he wishes. Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Do we have anything further on corporate management? Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is this the area where the farm strategy is in or is it on page 202, Growing Forward 2? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's under the economic diversification and business support page.
Thank you, Minister. I'll just remind all Members to indicate when you are done speaking so our tech team knows when to change the mics. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll ask the questions on that page. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Do we have anything further? I'm seeing nothing. I will call the section on page 198, Industry, Tourism and Investment, corporate management, operations expenditure summary, total activity, $8,078,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed
Thank you, committee. We will continue on to economic diversification and business support. It begins at page 200 and continues on to page 204. When discussing this activity, please indicate which page you are on so we can all follow along. Do we have comments or questions? Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I just have a couple of questions for the Minister. I attended something with the Minister or the Minister was making a speech about Community Futures. There was an indication there that Community Futures was a program that had tremendous leveraging abilities. I'm wondering why the budget has dropped? As slight as it is, if it has great leveraging possibilities, why is this budget going down slightly? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. First of all, this is the second year of the reduction from before and one of the community future development corporations had lower volumes of activity, therefore sustainable part-time level. So that's part of the reason for reductions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Beaulieu.
