Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I can tell the Member that there is some brushing included in the funds that allocated for this year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson.
I thank the Minister for that. I greatly appreciate that. The Blackstone Territorial Park, when we were talking about employment for Nahanni Butte, is there some component in there for the brushing and clearing of that site that could be done by this community? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll have to get that level of detail on how we're going to be allocating that type of work and get back to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson. Is there anything further about the capital plan?
Yes one more thing. It's on page 41, it's in that part of it. I thank the Minister and look forward to getting that information. Those are all my questions for this department. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I'd like to ask the Minister if he could provide us with the status of the fish plant in Hay River.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We still have a $1.4 million commitment for the fish plant in Hay River, and we were working with the local fisheries and discussion with Freshwater Marketing Corporation on how we were going to move this forward and we are still wishing to move that forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Anything further, Mr. Beaulieu?
No, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Next, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I just wanted to build upon the Minister's comments in terms of highlighting the increased tourism industry in the NWT and also in terms of airline traffic that brings people up North, but to try to build up on the Minister's comment as he puts it "the rubber traffic" and to see if there's ways that our communities can maybe tap into an opportunity.
I'm trying to understand if there's some immediate or maybe a semblance of a plan for all these parks that we have, particularly those in the Enterprise area, Kakisa, and Fort Providence, to see if there's some long-term visioning in terms of maybe bringing cellular technology into those areas but at the same time maybe free Wi-Fi and maybe upgrading so that people could park their RVs with proper facilities, like electrical outlets and that kind of stuff. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think that is a discussion that maybe the Member can have with our regional office and give those ideas forward to the regional superintendent regarding how we can improve that. With types of infrastructure around cellular and stuff, that is something that is driven by industry, but maybe there is an opportunity when in front of committee as the Minister of Infrastructure, maybe some of these federal funds might be a possibility to help address some of those types of things. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the Minister's offer in terms of maybe me engaging his officials, but the understanding that I have in terms of protocol is that, as MLAs here, we are allowed the leisure of working with Ministers. I just wanted to build upon an opportunity to see if perhaps the Minister would have an idea of how we could plan to work with communities, especially the small communities that I represent. I am trying to bring opportunities for tourism to be broadened, to be enhanced in small communities.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The point is well taken. The opportunity is here today. I can actually go a bit further. I could sit down with the superintendent myself to discuss these with the Member and have a discussion on what type of opportunities he thinks are possible coming forward and direct the superintendent to go into the regions and, based on those discussions, have discussions with the communities.
Around small business, there are a number of funding pots that are available through not just the tourism sector, a division of ITI, but also through the SEED opportunities and things. I welcome the opportunity to sit down with the Member at any point and talk about opportunities going forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you. Maybe as a prelude to those discussions, I think it is great, the park facilities that we have as we enter the northern side of the NWT coming from Alberta, especially the road traffic. We have some great infrastructure based out of Enterprise.
One of the particular interests of communities could be maybe expanding in terms of interpreter interaction with local people and tourists to see if maybe they could showcase the local history of communities. I wanted to see if perhaps that could be expanded. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have tourism development officers in every region who look at doing this stuff, and I can have a conversation with them and how we can possibly look at expanding some of those things. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Those are all the questions that I have.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Next we have Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I would like to ask a couple of questions about the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre. Given the fact that the Northern Frontier Visitors Association is planning to stop operations at the end of this month, I am wondering who is going to assume ownership of the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Northern Frontier Visitors Centre has asked about returning this asset back to the Government of Northwest Territories, and they are in discussions with the Department of Infrastructure on it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Would there be any exchange of money? Would the government be buying the centre from the Northern Frontier Visitors Association, or would it be a deal for a dollar? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do not believe there will be an exchange of money, but I can look into the details and get back to the Member on that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Once the GNWT assumes ownership of the building, what do they plan to do with it? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Department of Infrastructure will be doing an assessment of that building once it comes back into our possession and see what opportunities lie, if it has to be abated and disassembled and gotten rid of, or if there is a possibility of maybe taking a part of the building off and repatriating it in some other manner. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Could the Minister provide some timing around when the assessment will take place and when a decision will be made to either tear it down or salvage it? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will have to get back to the department and get that information for the Member. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green, anything further?
I just would like to point out that, in its current form, it is an eyesore. The sooner a decision can be made about what to do with it, I think, the better.
I want to go from there into page 5 with the long-term spending plan for ITI. It looks like the year that we are contemplating is going to be the high point of spending on tourism infrastructure, although, as the Minister has already said, the road traffic has increased. There may be value in creating new camp spaces in the North Slave and elsewhere. How flexible is this plan in bringing in new money if further development is going to take place? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. ITI submits a 20-year assessment to the working group on capital. The allocation is given out based on a rational total of asking for funding for funding available over three years, and we are at the end of those three years right now. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
I want to make sure that I understand that response. Let us say that the department does the analysis of this year's camp site usage. How quickly could a decision be made to increase the number of camp sites available? Thank you.
