Thank you. Next on the list we have Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I have a question for the Minister on the collection stations. The Minister mentioned that they're working for resolution on one of those. It's a positive thing. I would like to ask the Minister if there would be a small abattoir also included as part of the project for the collection station? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. At this time, no, there's no discussions about abattoirs. The collection station is about collecting fish from different zones on the lake, and then getting the fish to the fish plant. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, usually when they haul fish from one location to another, they put it in ice, and in places where they are picking it up on the lakes and so on, they have a place where individuals can go repack the fish that they're getting out of the nets, and packing it in ice and so on, and that usually means in a building of some sort. If it's not an abattoir that is going to be there at the collection station, will there be another type of building there where they can work on preparing the fish for pick-up? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The collection station has been in discussion with the fisherman right now. We are going to move to a tub-type system where the fish are collected in tubs out on the Great Slave Lake, and they will be brought into these collections stations, and that's where they will be. A small infrastructure needs to support that with a cooler, and will be able to hold these fish until we move them to Hay River. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That's all I have for this item. Thank you.
Thank you, committee. Any further questions? Page 36 and 37. If not, I'll call the page. Industry, Tourism and Investment, economic diversification and business support, infrastructure investment, 2019-2020 Capital Estimates, total $8,428,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Next, we have Industry, Tourism and Investment, tourism and parks, information items on page 39 and 40. Are there any questions? Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this listing of projects doesn't say anything about the Yellowknife Visitors' Centre. Could the Minister update us on the plan to replace the Yellowknife Visitors' Centre? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Mr. Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As this has been a matter of discussion in the House a number of times, most Members are well aware, we are in discussions with the City of Yellowknife on moving forward on how we can work with the city and planning with ITI and some other key partners around this initiative. I know it's very important to the Members of Yellowknife in particular, but we are working with the City of Yellowknife to come up with a strong vision for tourism in the City of Yellowknife and how this includes a longer-term visitors' centre. Those discussions will continue to be ongoing, and I believe Infrastructure will probably be at the table at some point as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Could the Minister please indicate when he expects these discussions to come to some kind of culmination? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The City of Yellowknife is responsible for visitors' services. With those ongoing discussions, we are at the stage where we are still looking at these things and having those discussions with the city, but once we are at the stage where there are program design possibilities, we will working, like I said, with the Departments of Infrastructure and Finance to see what the options are for facilities and the appropriate time to enter into discussions around potential funding if something should come out of that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Ms. Green.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. That would be a great answer if there was already a visitors' centre and we were looking at replacing it, but the fact is that the visitors' centre is now in the boardroom at the city hall. There doesn't seem to be an end point to the collaboration and discussions and planning, which I personally don't find very satisfying. Is the Minister able to expedite this in any way? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This has been an ongoing issue. We know that. We already know the concerns that we have around the tourism industry in Yellowknife, but I could have the staff have a look at if there's a way to expedite this and get back to committee. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Ms. Green.
Yes, thank you. I would appreciate him doing that. We are now a year and a half without a visitors' centre and with no firm plan to replace it. Being able to say when that might happen, to accept themselves' goal, to reach, I think would be very useful. If he could do that, that would be helpful.
On the topic of the visitors' centre, has the Minister determined what will happen to the old visitors' centre, the one that is currently boarded up? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As all Members know, the existing tourism visitors' centre that was shut down has been stabilized by the Department of Infrastructure. We have spent some money there to stabilize it. They are doing a program review and doing a design aspect looking at the things viable. Once we hit some interest from other parties, along with discussions possibly even with the City of Yellowknife, they will enter into the idea of maybe if we wanted to move in there if we can save that building or what can be done with it. At this present time, that's the situation with the visitors' centre that is shut down. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Ms. Green.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Once again, I would like to ask about timing. I don't get any sense of whether this is a six-month or six-year project. Could the Minister clarify that, please?
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I have clearly laid out, there are lots of discussions going on around this. We realize the urgency around it. The City of Yellowknife just recently had their election. We will be going into an election coming up here within the next eleven months or so. We, as I have stated in my earlier comment, that I could ask some of my staff to look at it. There's a way to expedite this, but there is going to be a number of partners that need to come to the table: funding, there's a capital process that has to take place. For the Government of the Northwest Territories, they're going to be funding this. If it's a loaner with partners regardless of how much capital we put into this, but we need to work with everybody and we will continue to do that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Ms. Green.
Yes, thank you. Well, given the amount of money that tourism is bringing to the territory, I think that the more quickly we can get to providing better services for visitors, the more successful we will be in building up our tourism numbers.
I want to ask some questions as well about the parks. The North Slave parks are very heavily used, often by people who live in the North Slave. My question is whether there are any plans to expand any of the North Slave parks or to develop any new parks, for example in the Tlicho or Deh Cho areas. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have recently added a loop at Prelude. That has added some capacity. As the Member knows, we are presently in discussion with the Tlicho and what we can do on the North Arm Park in their region. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, on page 39, the project referred is developing the day use area. I was thinking more about campsites. Can the Minister confirm that he also is talking about campsites? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we are looking at campsite parks there as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Nothing further.
Thank you. Next on our list, we have Mr. Simpson. Mr. Simpson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was dealing with an issue. How many of these projects here are carry-overs from the previous budget or projects that didn't get done last year? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister Schumann.
2019-2020, those are all new projects. None of those are carry-overs. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Simpson.
Every single project on here is brand new. They haven't been put out to tender before, or anything like that. Is that correct? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister Schumann.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Under 2019-2020, the $3,102,000 is all brand new projects. Some of them are multi-year. Any of the carry-overs, if there is carry-over, they are listed under the 2018-2019 revised estimates.
