Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we are quite confident that the CL-215s will sell. There is already some interest in the aircraft. I think we have had some from South America, from Europe, as well as some in North America. We are quite confident that these will sell. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I appreciate the Minister's reply. Just for clarification, how many of these units do we own that we are intending to sell? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there are four aircraft. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. I see nothing further from Mr. Vanthuyne. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess I will give the Minister an opportunity to make a sales pitch. How soon are these aircraft actually going to be up for sale? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we are working with the Department of Infrastructure to put the sale of the planes out to tender, and this is anticipated to be no later than September 2017. The actual timing of the sale will depend on the bids received, and the sale will be finalized by the end of the 2018 fiscal year. If anybody out there is interested in buying four planes, call the Department of Infrastructure and the Department of Finance. We have four good planes that we are putting on the market. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is a good sales pitch. I almost want to buy a plane, but if there is some way to move that date up as quickly as possible, because it is getting to be fire season right now. I am sure different jurisdictions are trying to make sure they have everything they need in place, so the quicker we can arrange a tender process, the better, in terms of trying to sell these things while the fire season is still hot. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Would the Minister like to respond?
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we are going out for an RFP and it may be fire season in our part of the world, but in other parts of the world, their fire seasons will differ than ours. The interest that we have been receiving is from European and South American countries, so we will have an RFP out and, as I said before, if we can get them, we'll have them sold by the end of the 2017-2018 fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Anything further from Mr. O'Reilly?
No, thank you, and I appreciate the efforts of the Minister. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. I will call this page. Environment and Natural Resources, operations expenditures, forest management, not previously authorized, $2,735,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Environment and Natural Resources, operations expenditures, total department, not previously authorized, $2,735,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. On to page 6. Industry, Tourism and Investment. Comments or questions for the Minister? Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have $1.4 million that we are going to be putting toward the Great Slave Lake Commercial Fishery Revitalization initiative. Can the Minister maybe elaborate a little bit about what the obligation of this funding is toward? I understand that there is a federal component to this, so some clarification or elaboration on that would be appreciated. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. The Minister is directing the question to Mr. Stewart. Mr. Stewart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The funding is for part of the overall strategy for revitalizing the Great Slave Lake commercial fishery. There is a variety of aspects to that, including looking at production and processing, and then accessing markets and those sorts of things. It is a project that is expected to have funding partners from both the fishers themselves, as well as the federal government. There was an application made to, I believe, CanNor, and I think that application is still in the process of being processed and finalized, but I think there is a positive indication that that funding will, in fact, eventually be received. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Stewart. Mr. Vanthuyne. Nothing further from Mr. Vanthuyne. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. $672,000 for a new Mineral Resources Act sounds like a lot of money. Can the Minister or his staff explain what that is really for? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, of the $672,000, $391,000 will be used for export outside and third-party assistance; $250,000 is earmarked for community engagement and Indigenous consultation; $31,000 is earmarked for communications costs, advertising, printing, and online websites. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am a little bit curious about this $250,000 for community engagement and Indigenous consultation. Are resources going to be provided to NGOs or communities to allow them to hire their own expertise or better engage in this process? It sounds like it is going to be a highly technical legalistic process of drafting this new legislation, so if there are any details on what that funding will actually be used for that, you know, whether the Minister has that at his fingertips or would commit to provide it soon? Either way is fine. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, part of the cause would be travel costs and that, but to answer the Member's question, that level of detail we do not have yet, but as soon as the details are ironed out, we will share those with committee. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I would appreciate receiving that level of detail. Whether, you know, ITI has that information now or not, and I understand this is a big piece of work that our government has committed to do on the mandate. We also want to make sure that we get it right and that you know there are opportunities for everyone to participate, including NGOs. More of a comment than anything else. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. We will take that as a comment. Anything further? I see nothing further. I will call the section. Industry, Tourism and Investment, operations expenditures, economic diversification and business support, not previously authorized, $1,410,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Industry, Tourism and Investment, operations expenditures, minerals and petroleum resources, not previously authorized, $842,000. That is agreed?
Agreed.
Thank you. Industry, Tourism and Investment, operations expenditures, total department, not previously authorized, $2,252,000. Agreed?
Agreed.
Thank you. Moving on to page 7, Infrastructure. Seeing no comments, I will call this page. Infrastructure, operations expenditures, asset management, not previously authorized, $1,184,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Infrastructure, operations expenditures, total department, not previous authorized, $1,184,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Committee, do you agree that we have concluded consideration of Tabled Document 383-18(2): Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2017-2018?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Mr. Testart.
Mr. Chair, I move that consideration of Tabled Document 383-18(2): Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2017-2018, be now concluded and that Tabled Document 383-18(2) be reported and recommended as ready for further consideration in formal session through the form of an appropriation bill. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. There is concurrence in motion. The motion is in order and non-debatable. All those in favour? All those opposed?
---Carried
Thank you, committee. I want to thank the Minister's witnesses, who will be sticking around for the next supplementary estimates. We will now begin considering Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 2, 2017-2018. Does the Minister have any opening remarks? Minister McLeod.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I do. I am here to present Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 2, 2017-2018. This document provides for an increase of $128.2 million to the capital budget.
The most significant item is the $127.7 million for the carryover of expenditures for infrastructure projects that were not able to be completed during the 2016-2017 fiscal year. That concludes my opening remarks. I am prepared to respond to the committee's questions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
