Thanks, Madam Chair. I think I heard one of our witnesses say that there is going to be some kind of a government-wide approach on regulations. I know that I have raised this on the floor of the house with the Minister of Justice. Is there any sense of when this government-wide approach on development of regulations is going to be developed, and when the Regular MLAs, at least, and the public are going to have a chance to look at that and maybe provide comments and feedback? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I believe that the comment was about trying to do engagement with Indigenous groups and governments during times like this, which would then be impacting our regulations, so that does need to be a whole-of-government decision led by EIA on how we are going to go forward with our engagement in this time. We can commit to taking this question away and coming back to the Member with more information. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I guess I just feel like we have been spinning our wheels here for about six months, at least. These were major themes that were raised during the development of the report by the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment as it reviewed the legislation. There has never been a public response to that report from Cabinet or the Minister, perhaps.
The major themes that came out of that were lack of consultation or lack of engagement around regulations and a commitment in the future to do things in terms of co-drafting. I think there were some successes with co-drafting in the last Assembly and a lot of desire to continue to make that work moving forward. There is no plan for that yet. There is no government-wide approach. There are no additional resources for the development of regulations for the department, no timeline, no plan for a rollout of regulations. I am not sure this is providing the kind of certainty that industry has asked for. We have letters from NGOs wanting to participate in this process, and I know COVID has set back some of these plans, but, without having any certainty, I'm just not sure where we're going with all of this. So I'll give the Minister another chance, I guess, to try to convince me that we're actually on track and doing something, here. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. This is a new government. I can't answer for what the last government was doing. We do want to do things differently. I would say that characterizing spinning wheels for six months when three of those have been COVID, you know, there should be some understanding that this will be delayed and take some time. As I mentioned earlier, there are going to be impacts on trying to do engagement and moving forward. We've had a hiring freeze on since COVID; that does impact the department, as well, in moving forward with new initiatives. This is something that this Assembly has committed to doing better, engagement and consultation and ensuring that all voices are heard when we are developing legislation, so we are going to continue to move forward with that. My apologies that it has not been fast enough for the Member; however, all the signs indicate that our mineral exploration season is not going to be fantastic this year coming up, so I would argue that perhaps we do have a little bit of time here in which we can take the time to ensure that we're doing this correctly. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. The standing committee, though, reported on the Mineral Resources Act in August of last year, so it has actually been substantially longer than six months. I understand, new Minister, new Cabinet, new approach, but we have to get a plan together so that the public has some confidence in where we're going and that we as Regular MLAs actually know where we're going. I'm just not sure that having no additional resources in here, no timelines, no plan, is really where we need to be. I'll just leave it at that. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister, do you have any last comments?
Thank you, Madam Chair. There will be a reply to the standing committee coming this session. Right now, Industry's concerns are more around surviving than ensuring that our new regulations have been developed. We do have some contract dollars, as mentioned earlier, that we will be putting toward this; however, as we have many things on the go at this time, this one has had to sit back slightly as we deal with other COVID-impacted areas in our department. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Are there any further questions under corporate management? Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd just like to get an idea of where we are with respect to oil and gas activities or planning. I understand we have a number of people on staff who deal with that, so I'm just kind of wondering what they're doing and if we're actually doing any work in that area. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We have a department or a unit in the Beaufort-Delta that deals a lot with the oil and gas sector. We are continuing to explore options for a northern Arctic route to export our oil and gas, or LNG, sorry, to Asian markets. All of this work is ongoing within the MPR, or the mineral and petroleum resource sector of ITI. It is ongoing. We've had discussions with interested companies, international global companies that are looking to invest in the Northwest Territories, on whether we will be suitable for their needs. If we do get that Arctic route going, we will be closer than many other sources of LNG to Asia, so it is a very viable prospect for our future. That work is very strong and ongoing at this time. If the Member would like, I could provide him with a briefing on our oil and gas operations. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. I know we have a whole section with budget lines under the mineral and petroleum resources, so if you have questions on numbers, and stuff; but, I mean, if it's general, then we can go on. Member for Hay River South.
Yes. I'm not sure if this is general or not, but I think so. Bringing LNG into the territories to service communities. Are we doing anything in that area, as well? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I think this is one that I will ask Ms. Strand to answer. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Strand.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, thank you to the Member for those questions. As you know, we rolled out a petroleum resources strategy a year and a half ago in partnership with two other GNWT strategies, and part of that strategy included assistance for studies for local sources of gas. We know there are opportunities in the Deh Cho, in the Sahtu, and in the Beaufort-Delta. The one that is closest is probably one that we refer to as M18 along the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway that the Inuvialuit are studying right now, so we do have some funding that goes toward that objective. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Strand. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I can wait until we get further down. That's all for now.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Are there further questions under ITI corporate management? If not, we will turn to page 199. Industry, Tourism and Investment, corporate management, operations expenditure summary, 2020-2021 Main Estimates, $9,140,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We will now go to economic diversification and business support, beginning on page 201, with information items up to page 205. Questions? Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I was hoping the Minister could provide me with any attempts to hire BDIC a CEO and whether we're using a headhunting firm to obtain that position. Considering we have about half a million dollars of taxpayer money, I think it's one of the most important positions in the public service. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Yellowknife North. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The BDIC job opening has closed. We have received a good number of applications. We are encouraged by the applications we have received. We did not use a headhunter. When I first came into this role, that was one of the first conversations I had, was the new CEO. At the time, with my history of what I've seen in the North, to me, what I found we get from headhunters is often someone from a southern centre who may be very good on paper and qualified in the work that they're going to do, and no disparaging them, but they don't understand the North, so, when the corporate headhunter conversation was had with me, I very quickly shut that down. So I personally take responsibility that we did not use a corporate headhunter. I felt that we needed to have somebody who lived in the North and understood the North. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I think that gets to the heart of what the BDIC is. I think, in the past, we've seen a number of boards that have kind of not used it as a development corporation. It has a number of subsidiaries under it that simply lose money year after year, and perhaps the corporation's purpose is to be a make-work project, but I view it as something that should be really a world-class development and investment corporation. I think there's a significant element of venture capital missing, finding other private equity firms. I guess, can the Minister update me on plans to work with this new CEO and the new board to get BDIC on track? Maybe we can move some of the losing ventures out of it and restructure them in a way such that they're not really weighing the organization down, because I don't think we're seeing the return on investments that I would expect to see from BDIC. So if the Minister could speak to that. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I think that pretty much everybody sitting on this side campaigned on a bit of a change mandate, so that does completely incorporate, as well, the BDIC. I can't speak to why the BDIC has been run how it's been run. I have heard the same and similar complaints that the Member has raised, or concerns or issues the Member has raised. When having that conversation with Ms. St-Denis, who is currently the acting CEO of the BDIC, we both recognized that there could be changes that should be made and really a re-evaluation of the purpose of what the BDIC is doing and how it's spending its money. However, we felt that it would not be fair for me as a Minister and her as an acting CEO to come in right now and make changes when we were looking for a new CEO. We want to see what that person's thoughts are. If we are hiring them, we want someone with great ideas who is going to move the BDIC forward. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I would appreciate it if the Minister could work with the new CEO and really give the BDIC a mandate for change. There is a large surplus in there. I recognize part of that is legislated and they have to have it, but, at the end of the day, I really think that in letting the BDIC be a little more arms-length has a lot of exciting venture capital possibilities. There are all sorts of private equity firms looking to invest and looking to find interesting projects.
Moving on, I would like to speak to the $450,000 for our commercial fisheries. Could the Minister provide me a breakdown of that figure by region? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't believe I have the breakdown by region on hand. I'm just looking over at my witnesses to see if they have it on hand. I see Ms. St-Denis is nodding her head, so I'll pass it over to her. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. St-Denis.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The commercial fish program is a support program that helps with freight subsidies for those fishers who are actually providing fish through for export. As well, there are some additional supports provided to the NWT Fishermen's Federation for processing of cheques. As well, we're going to be using some of the money for some safety programs. It's not necessarily broken down by region. It's more by function.
Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess I have had commercial fishers in Yellowknife North try to apply to this in the past and not get it. I know it has been quite successful to my members in the South Slave. I think it's also somewhat lacking in some of our ocean fisheries. I guess I would just leave a comment for the Minister that perhaps a bit of a review needs to be conducted. Fishing happens on both sides of the lake, and it certainly happens in the Arctic Ocean, and I think there is a huge potential to really grow the NWT fishing industry if we look at the territory from the whole. There are a lot of things I'm very excited about in this one page, so I'm going to try to get through them, Madam Chair.
Moving into the film industry rebate, I see in last year's main estimates it was $200,000. It is now $100,000. I believe we should actually look at increasing this and reforming it to be a bit more of a film production incentive program, something similar to the exploration incentive program. Can the Minister explain to me why we have decreased the funding for the film industry? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We did have a decrease of $100,000, which was a sunset from the CanNor support for the film industry projects in 2019-2020. We had an increase of $100,000, so it balanced out that CanNor then gave us much more money for another project in 2019. We had a variance of about, I think, $19,000 in that one, and it was an outstanding payment from 2017-2018 that was captured in the following year. I do agree with the Member's statement that I would like to see supports for the film industry and will continue to have that conversation with my department. I think it's one of our exciting sectors of diversification in the North. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Increasing that support is largely linked to the work that is occurring on the NWT Arts Strategy, which I recognize is a joint venture by ITI and ECE. Perhaps the Minister could update me if any progress has been made on increasing support for film and specifically a model that is more of a film producers' incentive program. The way the film industry works is it's very similar to the mining industry. One in a thousand projects go forward, but, when they do, they are very significant. We have the possibility of pulling multimillion-dollar movie productions to the North, but that requires producers taking some risk. I think the small rebates here really are not that up-front investment that they need to grow the film industry. If the Minister could provide an update on any work that's being done out of the Arts Strategy or elsewhere in ITI to develop a film producers incentive program or something similar that expands just this $100,000 we currently have? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm going to ask Ms. St-Denis to answer that. That's in her department. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. St-Denis.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We're currently in the process of doing our final stages of our film strategy, and with that, of course, we're having a variety of conversations with various stakeholders on what they would like to see on the next round of that strategy. We have heard similar comments, so we look forward to bringing back that updated strategy and whatever supports might be required, so, thank you.
Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.
