Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Item 8, written questions. Item 9, returns to written questions. Item 10, replies to Commissioner's opening address. Item 11, petitions. Item 12, reports of standing and special committees. Item 13, reports of committees on the review of bills. Item 14, tabling of documents. Item 15, notices of motion. Item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 17, motions. Item 18, first reading of bills. Item 19, second reading of bills. Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters, Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Revolving Funds Act; Bill 13, Marriage Act; Committee Report 618(2), Report on the Review of Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Revolving Funds Act; Tabled Document 26118(2), Northwest Territories Main Estimates 20172018, with the Member for Mackenzie Delta in the chair.
Thank you, committee. I now call Committee of the Whole to order. Mr. Beaulieu, what is the wish of committee?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, committee wishes to consider Tabled Document 26118(2), Northwest Territories Main Estimates 20172018, with the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment and the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. We will continue after a short recess. Thank you.
SHORT RECESS
Thank you, committee. Committee, I now call Committee of the Whole back to order. We will continue our consideration of Tabled Document 26118(2), Northwest Territories Main Estimates 20172018. We will return to the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Minister Schumann, do you wish to bring witnesses into the Chamber?
Yes, I do, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. SergeantatArms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Minister Schumann, please introduce your witnesses for the record.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left is Director of Finance Julie Mujcin, and on my right is Deputy Minister Tom Jensen. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Welcome back, Minister Schumann, and to your officials. Committee, we will begin with the mineral and petroleum resource activity. The activity description is on page 205. The activity details are on page 206. Related information items are found on pages 207 and 208. When posing questions, please let us know the page number on which the item can be found. Also, please indicate when you are finished speaking so the technicians can operate the mics efficiently. Does committee have any questions or comments on the mineral and petroleum resource activity? Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I would like to talk about the allocation to the petroleum resources division. I would like to know, of the seven staff who work there now, how many of them are specialists only within petroleum resources? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So out of the seven, I will list them all off: administrative assistant, manager of oil and gas planning, manager of oil and gas rights, senior oil and gas specialist, petroleum geomatics officer, registrar, and director of petroleum resources. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So by my count, three or four of the positions are specialist positions and the other positions are more general. Does the Minister agree with that assessment? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess I would have to know what the definition of a "specialist" means. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am going to use a definition of a "specialist" as somebody who has unique, specialized educational attainment and work experience in the level of petroleum resources. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, if you go by the list that I gave you, I would probably say the administrative assistant is the only one who is not a specialist. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The reason I am asking these questions is because I don't understand, given the current level of oil and gas activity in the NWT, why we are staffing an office with seven people, given the low level of activity. Why is it necessary to have seven people in this office? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We still need to have staff in the oil and gas office. You know, we tend to say 10 years until oil and gas comes back, but we don't control the commodity markets. There is still some interest in it. We are sitting on billions of dollars’ worth of reserves in the Northwest Territories, and when the markets come back, they will have the ability to jump on it and take best advantage of that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have never seen the government jump on an opportunity in my life in the NWT. Crawl towards it is more the speed that it goes. So why staff this office on a whatif basis if they are waiting for the future to unfold? Why not put that money into the economic diversification that my colleagues have talked about until oil and gas is a going concern again? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess the other side of it is, besides just waiting for the markets for commodities to come back, we are developing an oil and gas strategy legislation. That is going to take a number of people to put that together and bring it forward. As the Member is well aware, there is a lot of pressure on Cabinet to get our LPs to the table, and we have got to work on these initiatives and moving them forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, can the Minister confirm that the legislation is being developed inhouse from existing resources and not contracted out? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, this is correct. We are doing it inhouse. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister confirm that all seven staff are engaged in the development of this legislation? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would say yes, but some of the staff is also engaged with some of the register of the active leases that we have as well, too. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I remain concerned that this division is overstaffed vis-a-vis other priorities of the GNWT, and I would encourage the Minister, in the next budget cycle, to consider how these non-specialist positions could be redeployed to economic diversification portfolios. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As the Member is well aware, we have had some cuts in this department already in this fiscal budget. We continue to work, like I said, on legislation and stuff moving forward, plus we can't forget about the possibility of the Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline and the possibility of that still moving forward with the extension of their licence. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Ms. Green.
I have no further questions. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Next we have Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Mineral Incentive Program has remained, I would say, stagnant; I am sure the Minister would say stable funding at $400,000, whereas our neighbouring jurisdiction, the Yukon, for fiscal year 2017-18 has invested $1.6 million into this fund. How is the Minister ensuring that this incentive program is competitive with other jurisdictions in Canada and is attracting exploration here in the Northwest Territories compared to other jurisdictions? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This program has been very successful to date so far, but this is our third year with it. I can see some uptake on it. As the Member is well aware, we went to Mineral Roundup with all my Cabinet colleagues along with the chair of economy and environment from the Regular Members' side, and they showed the importance of this potential work coming to the Northwest Territories through the MMIP. I think this is something that, as we move forward in the next coming years of this Assembly, we will have a look at trying to invest more money. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am disappointed to hear that once again we are unable to look at investing in this subsidy, important subsidy for our economy. Last business plan, I asked the same questions and was told that this year may be different. What are the expectations that we will see this increase in this fund by next business plan? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Schumann.
