Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for his answer. Will the Minister make a commitment to actually get some community members on there? Because I know in some of our regions and some of our ridings we have people who are really interested in this geothermal. So will the Minister make a commitment to get community members on there? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I've said, we are just starting the early days of working on the geothermal energy status in the Northwest Territories. As we move forward and get a little more information on how we're going to move this forward and along with legislation, I'm sure we're going to have to look at how we're going to acquire some funding and how we can move this initiative forward as a possible development in future economic development in the Northwest Territories that benefits all residents.
This is early days, so I suspect at some point, no different than our energy strategy, there's input that can be done through that process on how we move it forward on the Public Works side of things. So as we move forward I will definitely engage with Members of the House, and how we're going to and who is going to be participating. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for that answer. I guess I'm just really hoping that the Minister will work with some of the communities. I know in Fort Liard they've had proposals in the past, and it's a great opportunity for that community, too; you know, agriculture, heating, power, a whole bunch of opportunities there, and also employment.
So I greatly appreciate the Minister and his answer, and I'm looking forward to working with him on this file as we move forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair. That will be my final comment. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Take that as a comment. Any further questions from committee? Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we know that the Mining and Mineral Strategy for the Northwest Territories was kind of a pre-devolution product, and I'm just wondering if the department has any kind of reason or will they be giving consideration toward renewing the strategy now that it's post-devolution, kind of taking those evolutionary steps in that strategy? Or is that even necessary if we are going to go into creating a new act? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess the short answer is, yes, we're going to have a review of the Mining and Mineral Strategy moving forward. So thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister elaborate a little bit more on what that's going to entail? Will there be a public engagement process or a consultative process, and how long do we anticipate it will take to go through this process? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As the Member is well aware, when we were down at Roundup this actually came up in one of my meetings, or several of my meetings, if we were going to have a look at this thing. So this is something we've considered since we got back from Mineral Roundup and this is early days in how we're going to do this. Like I said, this is a big one for the Department of ITI moving forward and, again, we'll be engaging committee as we move forward and get their input on how we should be developing some of these items. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That leads me to quickly touch on the work that's being done to create a new act, and I think I basically have similar questions along those lines, in that what will be the process that this government is going to take to, I guess, streamline our approach to regulatory environment and kind of bring it in line with our priorities. What's the intention there in terms of getting the act under way, who are we going to consult and engage with, and what kind of timelines are we looking at? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think I answered this question earlier on moving forward on how we're going to engage everyone. We're going to get input from committee on how we're going to do this. This is a big act for the Government of the Northwest Territories moving forward. We want to bring the administration and land tenure and royalties together under one act, so it's going to take a lot of input from a number of stakeholders across the Northwest Territories, Aboriginal governments, NGOs, citizens at large, so we'll be engaging probably as many people as we can as we move this forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We know that a number of our Aboriginal governments have started to advance their regional mineral development strategies. Is our government working in collaboration with them to help them, assist them in doing their mineral development strategies? What kind of part will those strategies play in our new post-devolution Mining and Mineral Strategy? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The latest one we worked on with Aboriginal governments was in the Deh Cho, which was, from my understanding a great success on moving it forward and getting an interest on how they want to move their mineral strategy forward. How it's tied to the Government of the Northwest Territories is probably going to depend greatly on regions, as we have settled claims in many of the regions in the Northwest Territories and it's a shared responsibility on a number of initiatives on how we move some of these things forward.
As for the unsettled claims, I think it brings a lot of certainty working on a mineral development strategy with them, as industry certainly wants. The number one thing is certainty moving forward, and anything we can help facilitate with the Aboriginal governments on their own mineral development strategy, we'll be at the table to assist them on that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we also, through our client services and community relations, were able to deliver the Mining Matters curriculum in four schools last year, in the Sahtu in particular, and there's some intention that this unit is going to be preparing to deliver some programming in other schools, in particular Fort Simpson, Fort Providence, and Fort Liard. Are we rolling out the Mining Matters curriculums in those schools? What is the status of the Mining Matters curriculum and is it rolling out? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would have to get a little more detail on that how that's being rolled out, because I believe that's kind of a cross-departmental issue with Education, Culture and Employment, and the amount of input that we have in it. I don't believe it's part of the curriculum across the Northwest Territories yet, but it is being rolled out in that particular region I think in the coming school year that you're talking about. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I guess I'll wait for that information to come back at some point from the Minister, because that would have been my line of questioning, that in the client services and community relations line item in the budget on page 206 we have actually seen a small decrease since 2015-16. If we are actually going to work toward increasing and building this curriculum in other jurisdictions, I would think that we would need a slight increase in that pot and not a reduction. Until I hear further from the Minister, I will leave it at that. Mr. Chair, if there are no further questions, then I will have a motion to move. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Next we have Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I just want to go back to this line item under grants, contributions, and transfers. It is the NWT Chamber of Mines. This is just a continuing contribution. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and smells like a duck, this is core funding, essentially. It sort of sticks out to me. I don't see similar contributions, say, to Northern Farm Training Institute for agriculture that would enable them to attend agricultural conferences and do training and so on. Or I will just pick another one, Ecology North, when it comes to renewable energy or climate change. How can the Minister convince me that this is not really core funding? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am not certain I can convince him otherwise. This money is for specific projects, so every year it is allocated to specific projects. Last year, they have actually spent more than the money they were allocated. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I don't want to prolong this, but can the Minister then commit to provide similar funding, then, to an organization like NFTI so that they can participate in agricultural conferences and so on as part of the agricultural strategy? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We don't have that detail, but I believe we already give them grants and contributions and it is used for some of this stuff. We will get that information for the Member. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. I see no further questions. Seeing no further questions or comments from committee, please return now to page 206, Industry, Tourism and Investment, mineral and petroleum resources, operations expenditure summary, total activity, $14,712,000. Does committee agree? Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I move that this committee defer further consideration of the activity minerals and petroleum resources under the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment Main Estimates 2017-18 on page 206 at this time. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Motion is on the floor and is now being distributed. The motion is in order and is not debatable.
Question
Question has been called. All those in favour. All those opposed. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Thank you, committee. We will now proceed to the next activity, tourism and parks. The activity description is found on page 209, the activity detail is on page 210, and related information items are found on pages 211 and 212. Does committee have any questions or comments on the tourism and parks activity? Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am looking at page 211. I see that there are a number of funds that seem to do similar things, for example, Tourism 2020 and Tourism Industry Contribution. Has there been any thought put into amalgamating these funds just for the sake of efficiency? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Tourism 2020 is for original marketing support, so that is the reason we want to keep them separate. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Could the Minister tell us what kind of an evaluation, if any, is done on the value of the spending in each of these tourism areas, such as 2020, product diversification, industry contribution, skills development? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I have said many times in this House, the number of tourists coming to the Northwest Territories has gone up substantially and so has the number of dollars spent in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Ms. Green.
