Agreed.
Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2020-2021, Department of Health and Social Services, total department, not previously authorized, $54,860,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Committee, we will now consider the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment on page 10. I will now open the floor to general comments of the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment. If there are no further comments, does the committee agree to proceed to the detailed contained in the tabled document?
Agreed.
Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2020-2021, Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, corporate management, not previously authorized, $58,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2020-2021, Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, economic diversification and business support, not previously authorized, $3,933,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2020-2021, Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, tourism and parks, not previously authorized, $1,500,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2020-2021, Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment -- sorry. Member?
I did have my hand waving up in terms of the tourism and parks supplementary appropriation for $1.5 million. It's for growth and recovery by investing in tourism fund. I have heard from at least one representative from the retail sector about this funding really being aimed at marketing, trying to find new ways to market products and so on, rather than really being aimed at trying to help businesses through the pandemic. I'm just wondering if I can get some details from the Minister about how this funding is going to be used and whether it's split in any way between trying to find new markets versus survival of small businesses during the pandemic? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is growth and recovery by investing in tourism. The Member makes a good point. It's not necessarily meant at the relief stage. It's not targeting the relief stage that is, obviously, needed by a lot of businesses. There're a number of programs both within the GNWT but also from the federal government that are much more directly targeted at relief. The growth and recovery by investing in tourism has three different streams, if you will, under which individual businesses can apply. The first one is for new product development or innovation meant to be for, again, development of a new tourism product or, also, the enhancement of an existing product which is meant to be forward looking and to provide an opportunity for recovery for growth and to be ready to move forward when the time comes.
Another schedule under which individuals or businesses can apply would be for marketing and promotion, consistent with a new strategy under NWT Tourism with respect to the Emerging Wisely plan. Trying to support businesses and assist businesses in changing their marketing for the interim period until a time when COVID may not be creating quite the same level of disruption to the industry as it is now. A third one, though, Mr. Chair, does provide funding towards operations and maintenance costs to a maximum of $5,000, so that does give some opportunity to provide some immediate relief, even before such time as the industry might be back on its feet again. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I want to thank the Minister for that detail. There's three streams. Can the Minister provide some detail as to how much is within each of those streams and if there's flexibility to move money within the streams should demand warrant? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Under the first one that I mentioned, the product development, that has a maximum of $75,000. The second one comes to a maximum contribution of $10,000. I believe I did indicate previously that there was $5,000 under the third stream of providing some supports for operations and maintenance. As for whether or not there would be movement from within, and I wanted to note, Mr. Chair, that what I believe is before committee right now is the $1.5 million that is coming fully federally funded from the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, or CanNor, but that is being matched by ITI from internal budgets. A large portion of that is from ITI's travel budget.
Obviously, there is a lot less travel happening in the current fiscal year, so a significant amount of funding coming from there is being redirected to support the industry. Another large portion is coming from what was the large-scale marketing campaign initiative, so normally that would be money that would be directed through to the Northwest Territories tourism strategy and particularly targeting the international market. Obviously, that, too, right now, there is not much sense in spending a significant amount of money there and similarly with regional marketing plans. Taking that and then redirecting all of that, Department of ITI has been able to actually internally match the $1.5 million, creating a total of $3 million available under these three streams.
As to whether or not we will be in a position to redirect any of that funding, Mr. Chair, I was actually trying to, as I was speaking, pull up the binder I happen to have for ITI, but I am not able to read and speak at the same time. What I will do, Mr. Chair, is take that question away. If, indeed, there is more demand in one stream or the other, I will find out an answer as to how flexible we are able to be with that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
[Microphone turned off] ...Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes. I appreciate that detail. What I was really asking was how much money is allocated for each of the three streams out of the $3 million the Minister just spoke of. I understand she does not have the information at her fingertips. If she could provide that to me, I would appreciate it and the flexibility to move money within the streams.
The other point I would like to make is that I appreciate that our staff go out and do this work to try to get funding to support small businesses, but sometimes, you need to talk to small businesses before you go out and try to get the money, to find out what their needs are. I suppose that is one of the reasons why the Business Advisory Council was set up, but I am not convinced that small business is actually adequately represented on the council, itself. I would like to urge the Minister. I will try to be diplomatic here. This was something that was done before the Minister took over the portfolio, so I just would like to ensure that the Minister talks to businesses, small businesses in particular, before designing support and recovery programs, to make sure that it really meets their needs because I am not convinced that that happened in this particular case. I take the Minister's commitment, and I look forward to getting that information and hope that we can get better-designed programs in the long run. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes. I am happy to continue to follow up on that. Actually, I do not think I mentioned it in this context. Mr. Chair, there have been quite a number of opportunities already for me to have a direct connection with the tourism association and the tourism industry. In fact, I am up in front of them tomorrow with a bit of a Q and A, so there may well be some very direct opportunity within the next 14 or so hours to have that Q and A with representatives from industry and from businesses in the industry. I take the Member's point.
I do want to defend the program a little bit, that it was one that was developed with NWT tourism's input around how to redirect some of the funding that was otherwise, again, in these pots for marketing and for our own travel budgets and trying to find a way to make that more useful for the industry. There certainly was that engagement there. Nevertheless, I certainly acknowledge that this is an industry that has a lot of different-sized players in it, so ensuring that we are, in fact, adequately representing and assisting all of those players is something I will take away and make sure we are doing. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2020-2021, Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, tourism and parks not previously authorized, $1,500,000.
Agreed.
Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2020-2021, Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, total department not previously authorized, $5,491,000. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Committee, we will now consider the Department of Infrastructure on page 11. I will now open the floor to general comments on the Department of Infrastructure. If there are no further comments, does the committee agree to proceed to the detail contained in the tabled document?
Agreed.
Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2020-2021, Department of Infrastructure, programs and services not previously authorized, $1,027,000. Does committee agree? Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am happy to see all of the money we can get under the Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund. I believe that some of this money is a carry-over, meaning we did not get it out the door. Can I just confirm that is the case? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Yes, Mr. Chair. That is the case.
Thank you, Minister. Member.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can I just get some assurance from the Minister that the Department of Infrastructure has a communications plan and has outreach and is going to make sure that we do not fail to get Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund money out the door? It seems to me a representation of the GNWT, that we would fail to get our Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund money spent. I recognize COVID-19 happened. I recognize getting people to apply to funds can be difficult. I am just looking for some assurance that we have a plan to make sure we spend this money. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes. The Member actually identified a couple of the reasons why the money was not spent, quite outside necessarily the control or exclusive control of the government. With respect to the commitment that he is seeking, I would suggest that we turn this to the Minister of Infrastructure, please.
Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund agreement, it's $4.5 million from the federal government. It's as per some of their parameters, and we respect that. However, we want to get this in the books so that we could start going through some of the spending. I hear the Member's concern. You look at some of the different initiatives, and I do want to say that three of the initiatives from above are administered by the Department of Infrastructure. However, the other three are administered by either the Arctic Energy Alliance or the NWT Housing Corporation or the Department of ENR, so there are other departments involved in this, too. However, I hear the Member's concern that, yes, we should have a plan to get something in place so that we can get this spent on time. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2020-2021, Department of Infrastructure, programs and services not previously authorized, $1,027,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2020-2021, Department of Infrastructure, total department not previously authorized, $1,027,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Committee, we will now consider the Department of Justice on page 12. I will now open the floor to general comments on the Department of Justice. If there are no further comments, does the committee agree to proceed to the detail contained in the tabled document?
Agreed.
Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2020-2021, Department of Justice, court services not previously authorized, $233,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2020-2021, Department of Justice, policing services, not previously authorized, $450,000. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am very happy to see $450,000 for five additional RCMP positions under the First Nations Policing Program. I hope to see more of these positions. This is long overdue, getting these positions. I also note that it saves the RCMP money because they are funded more than other positions. Can I get an answer of where these RCMP officers will be placed? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
[Microphone turned off] …Minister.
