Thank you, Mr. Chair. The other point that I wanted to understand is that there's an increasing interest in collaboration and cooperation in terms of working with communities, and also the management of territorial parks and so forth, but to basically take an opportunity of the growing number of visitors to the parks and it's a very good thing, and so I wanted to understand that communities want to, of course, be involved. So is it critical or integral that communities have an opportunity to develop their local community tourism strategies? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's why we had the initiative that's put in place in this 2020 going forward was the community regional coordinator position that each community can apply on. They can do it by themselves, or a couple of communities can get together to pull it together, but the main intent of that is bringing that initiative forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. No further questions.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Committee, any further questions? Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, section 1.27 of our mandate commitments, for which the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment is responsible, has commitments to do a number of things. One, I'd like to ask how this budget address is erecting emergency shelters along remote highways. I know that that has been an issue in the past. How is the department investing in those emergency shelters and fulfilling the mandate commitment? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. On this particular file, we are working with my other department, the Department of Transportation, on how we can enhance roadside facilities. There is a small working group working on that. We are working to define the underlying needs that meet the needs of these emergency shelters and identify some alternative solutions. We are still working on an initiative before we bring it forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. When does the Minister expect to be in a position to release the details of this working group plan? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Like I said, the two departments are having a look at it moving forward. The long-term plan is to have a pull-out every 50 kilometres along the highway system and a major rest stop every 50 kilometres. We will continue to look at this initiative and see what we can do before the end of the 18th Legislative Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Midterm, when we review this mandate, is rapidly approaching, so I expect that, if we have an idea of what this plan is going to cost and whether or not we can accomplish it, we should know sooner than later. Further to this commitment, there is also a commitment to expand tourism options by building new parks, such as the Doi T'oh Territorial Park in the Sahtu region. What is the status of that development of new parks and in particular, the Doi T'oh Territorial Park? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Doi T'oh Territorial Park Canol Heritage Trail is still under the federal government. They are working on their initiative coming forward. I believe they have already had a site tour of potential bidders there in the last fall on this site. I believe in the coming months they are supposed to be doing a bid process and see how all that rolls out. Until that time, it is still under federal responsibility. We will not be moving on that initiative until that takes place. I believe we are also still working with the federal government on sources of funding to finish up wire cleanup on the Canol Trail this year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister provide details of any other territorial parks that are in development? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As for parks under ITI's care and maintenance, I believe that we don't have anything besides some expansions of existing parks. Other parks, that may fall under department of ENR, which would be conservation initiatives. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just to clarify this mandate commitment, the intention is to only really pursue the Doi T'oh Territorial Park as an expanded tourist option. I just note that it makes a commitment to build new parks; is Doi T'oh the only new territorial park on the horizon? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Schumann.
That is correct, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the Minister for that clarification. How much contribution funding do we provide specifically for the purpose of destination marketing to NWT tourism and through other sources as well? How much are we spending on destination marketing? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. What I can tell the Member is that we give the NWT TTA $3.3 million as core funding and they distribute that as they see fit. I would have to get that information from NWT TTA and what allocation is for destination. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is that the only source of marketing funding that is available from the department, that contribution to the NWT TTA? Are there any other avenues for destination marketing that are currently undertaken through this activity? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. You have that Tourism Product Diversification funding that is there. There is also Tourism 2020, I believe, that you could probably tap into for that as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I look forward to the detailed information on that tourism destination marketing spending. With that, I will conclude my questions. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. We will move on to Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don't want to continue to belabour this area too much. I know we need to move on. I do want to give credit where credit is due. I see that, for the first time in a couple of years, we are making an investment in tourism skills development. I see that as a positive, but I do have a couple of questions around that. That pot of $170,000, can the Minister describe for us, other than the contributions to support youth mentorship and community tourism coordinators, can the Minister describe for us how this pot of $170,000 is going to be divvied out into skills development? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. $150,000 has been approved for the community tourism initiative and $125,000 for the Youth Mentorship Program. There is $275,000, plus we have another $125,000 we can get from other pots of money. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Did you want to add to that?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to make sure I did my math right: $150,000 and $125,000, that is $275,000, plus you can get $125,000 from additional pots.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sorry, I just need clarification again. I got $125,000 for the youth mentorship. There was $150,000; I missed the program that was announced for the $150,000. An officer's position of some kind? I need clarification. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am going to redirect this to the director of finance for clarity. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Ms. Mujcin.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The entire skills development budget is actually $275,000; $150,000 is for the community tourism coordinators initiative, along with $20,000 for youth mentorship. In addition to that, we have $125,000 that sits in other expenses. That can be tapped into for skills development. We may put on workshops and things like that with that kind of money. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Mujcin. Minister Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in last fall's business plans, the department described some programming under this skills development that was going to be coming forward. One of them was, in fact, the Youth Mentorship Program, which I'm happy to see we're dedicating $125,000 to that program. The business plans also highlighted the Tourism Training Fund and also the Tourism Business Mentorship, and it's my understanding that those two programs are going to also come out of the Tourism Skills Development pot. First of all, I'll get clarification. Are all three of these programs, in fact, coming out of the Tourism Skills Development pot of money, and if $125,000 of it is going to the Youth Mentorship how much is going to be going to the Tourism Training Fund and how much is going to the Tourism Business Mentorship? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Ms. Mujcin.
