Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, I think it is trying to separate out something that is actually a little bit more complex than just this or that. How about I commit to coming back to the Member with a response to that question? Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I would appreciate it. Perhaps, going forward, it's a corporate restructuring thing. Every time I am talking about mineral economy versus petroleum, they are not in one department, in one section, in one line item, because they are obviously very different conversations. If they are wrapped up in this $5 million, I would like to know what's going to the mining versus what's going to the petroleum. I would appreciate that response.
My other question is: I really support the work that the NWT geological survey does. It's really the backbone. Some of the permafrost work is great. A lot of that science data has applications well beyond mining. It's used all over the world. It's really great data they use and produce. I am concerned to see a $1.1 million decrease in their budget. Can the Minister explain that decrease to me?
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We have had an increase, actually, of -- sorry, I'm getting my accounting stuff done, end of the day here, tired. We had a sunset on the Slave geological province exploration development of $1.2 million. That's the biggest chunk there. We did see a small increase for the salary, the collective bargaining. Generally, it's the airborne geophysical survey finishing. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. We are going to take a break, and we will resume by 6:30. Thank you.
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All right, committee. We are going to call committee back to order, and we are going to continue on where we left off, ITI, mineral and petroleum resources. We are going to the Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I understand that the department contracted with PricewaterhouseCoopers for $300,000 to do a review of the NWT royalty regime for mining. I think it might have been a broader review. I think phase 1 was to be completed in fall of 2019. Is there a report done, and, if so, can we get a copy? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, there was a report that was done. It was a benchmarking report that did not contain any recommendations. I just want to preface that. We are putting it through our deputy ministers and Cabinet, and then, afterwards, we will bring it to AOC to share. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Any idea when that is going to be available? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't have a time frame at this time, but I do commit to making that a timely response to the Member. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Okay. It's got to go through some deputy ministers' committee and up to Cabinet. If the work's done, I don't know why we can't be given it in confidence now, especially if there are no recommendations. Is it like two, three months down the road, two years down the road? When does the Minister expect to be able to make this report available to Regular MLAs? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We'll have that report to you within the next four to six weeks. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Phase 2 is supposed to involve some kind of public engagement. What's that going to look like given COVID and so on, and are there going to be independent experts who are actually going to be conducting the review? How is this going to be done? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. As part of the MRA regulations, we are doing a royalty review and are planning that currently. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member.
Okay. Yes, I had understood that there was going to be a second phase to the work that the contractor was doing. Can I get a commitment, then, out of the Minister that she's prepared to share this public engagement plan or whatever it's going to be with Regular MLAs before it's finalized? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, we can share that with you before it's finalized. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Great, thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the Minister's commitment. This follows up on the recommendation from the last Assembly that the review should be done, an independent panel or some other form as has been done in Alberta twice with regard to their oil and gas regime, because the feds never really did this when they had jurisdiction. I think it's timely that this government takes that approach, so I am pleased to hear that the Minister is going to share the approach that she's going to develop with Regular MLAs.
I want to move on. My colleague from Yellowknife North asked about the staff that the department had in place to help with oil and gas development and promotion of it and so on. I'm actually looking at the organizational charters, the phone directory. There are a number of positions that are clearly identified here with regard to oil and gas activities. Look, I've met some of these people. They work very hard. I want these jobs to stay in Yellowknife. Sorry, not in Yellowknife, in Inuvik. Let's be clear on that. There are, I think, seven, eight people in Inuvik. They were hired to promote oil and gas development, but there's nothing happening, nothing, absolutely nothing. What sort of thinking is the department going through in terms of repurposing some of these positions to areas of the economy where there is potential for growth, particularly, say, tourism, with the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway? Maybe not this summer, but there's a lot of promotion work that can and should be done there. What is the plan? Because I just don't see oil and gas ever coming back here, and that's what everybody else predicts, not just my colleague from Yellowknife North. What is the longer term plan for repurposing some of these positions to support the areas of the economy where there is potential for expansion and growth and creating jobs in small communities? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Perhaps, that just indicates that we need to properly name these positions for what they actually do. Nobody in the North really does only one thing. There are many Jacks-of-all-trades or Jills-of-all-trades in the North, so these people actually do things that are beyond the oil and gas sector. I would like to say that "nothing going on" is a mischaracterization, and I believe those people believe their work is important, so I do want to say that they're working hard in our oil and gas sector. As mentioned to the other Member, perhaps I need to come back to the committee with a better briefing on what the oil and gas work is that's going on in the Beaufort Delta. Those people also have supported the regional mineral development strategies that we unfolded at our roundup there, so they do do work that's beyond oil and gas. We also have tenured oil and gas rights that are still ongoing and need to be managed in those regions. As we mentioned before, we'll come back to the committee with a better explanation of what our oil and gas sector is doing, but I would not characterize it as "nothing." Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Just to be clear, I'm not saying that these people are doing nothing. There's nothing happening in terms of oil and gas exploration, development, rights issuances. There's nothing happening. I'm not saying these people are not doing anything, and I hope that the Minister will correct the record to reflect what I said rather than what she thinks I said. I know some of these people. I've worked with them in the past. I think they do good work. Some of these positions, at least it seems to me that they've been renamed, reconfigured, even from a year ago. Can the Minister confirm whether there's been some reorganization, renaming of some of the positions or this function within ITI? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We do have new changes that are coming into force within the next month. Based on that work before, no, we have not been renaming those positions. When you said there's nothing going on in oil and gas, and then state that there are people working in oil and gas, that's why I would draw that conclusion. I stand corrected. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Yes, I really look forward to that plan for this function within ITI. I know that there was a lot of work to be done to get our systems in place for administering oil and gas rights and our own system and so on. That's all fine and dandy, but, if there's no activity taking place, then I think we need to look at what kind of resources we dedicate to those functions. I'm not going to get into an argument with the Minister. I've never said that these people are not working or doing a fine job because I know that they do. I just would ask that the Minister be a little more careful in interpreting what I say. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I would just offer that that goes both ways. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Any further questions, Member for Frame Lake? Thank you. Member for Nunakput.
Oh, Madam Chair, I think I'm an interpreter tonight. We have in the Beaufort Delta in my riding, in our riding back home, I guess we have immense petroleum resources. We have 52 petroleum fields, 263 wells, gas, sitting dormant. When they did the Ikhil pipeline, they had 30 BCF that was providing Inuvik with natural gas. Now with the M18 which is 13 kilometers out of Tuktoyaktuk and 6 kilometers off the highway, we have 500 BCF that could provide condensate to run Inuvik for natural gas, provide jobs, all that good stuff, condensate to provide LNG to our more northerly communities. We're not going to run off of solar and wind. It can't happen. I mean, with all the trees in the world, this ain't going to happen.
For myself, we have to take a step back. Providing condensate and for the northern mines, potentially, if we do that road to nowhere, five mines get brought back up. I guess, if the diamond mine industry gets healthy again, who could provide that natural gas? It's going to be us, as a territory, providing our own fuel. The safety of our people on the Dempster Highway, knowing how many times that road closed this year and the other years in regard to LNG trucks flipping over and tipping, and they can't even go past them for 48 hours for safety, it shuts the road down for two days, and we have so many problems with that road, anyway, in regard to weather this year. Weather has been bad everywhere. Not just for myself, I just thought I'd get clarity on that for my two colleagues here from Yellowknife. I really think, with all the oil and gas in the Beaufort Delta, we should keep our dialogue open with the oil companies and stuff like that. Let it be known the Inuvialuit and, I know, the Gwich'in, in the oil and gas play, is any kind of work is good work. That's just more of a comment. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. I'll take that as a comment. If you have no further questions, I will call for questions under the minerals and petroleum resources. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The Minister had mentioned earlier about looking at shipping oil, I think, down the Mackenzie and around the coast, somewhere, anyway. Can she just restate, I guess, what she said?
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The reason we are exploring that option in the Beaufort Delta is not only for our own energy and fuel needs but also to export to Asian markets. We're talking about using, potentially, an offshore loading facility or such or a port in which we would then be able to load shippers and tankers off to Asia because that's actually a shorter route than they are currently using at the moment to go from different parts of Canada out to the coasts through pipelines, et cetera. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Is there any discussion with Alberta on a potential pipeline down the Mackenzie for moving oil sand oil around? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. At this moment, not that I am aware of. We are not exploring pipelines to Alberta at this time. I think that the department would confirm that. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. With respect to the positions in Inuvik, I had brought this up before, is that, in South Slave and I guess the Deh Cho as well, it would be nice to have somebody look at tying in the communities into natural gas. Assuming that natural gas is probably going to have to come out of Alberta, have we looked at that at all or explored that area? Thank you, Madam Chair.
