Thank you, Madam Chair. The rest of my comments and the points that I made in my opening remarks, I will illustrate through each department that each of these projects comes with long-term commitments of O and M, which is simply not room we have fiscally. So no more further questions. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. First, I just want to say I do agree with me colleague about looking ahead and being proactive on operations costs when we are making our infrastructure and capital plans.
I want to say that I'm actually pleased to see a large infrastructure investment going forward. One thing when economies are bad, that governments do, is they build infrastructure. It's a way that we can keep people in the Northwest Territories employed over the next while as COVID really does make our future quite uncertain, particularly our economic future going forward.
Another piece that keeps striking me is that the cost of building houses is only going to escalate and is escalating currently due to the lack of supplies, etcetera. Not having roads only creates more expense for our territory to build houses. So if we have the roads to move the materials around easier, it will be easier for us to build houses in the long run. So I think I don't have a lot of optimism sitting here two years in where we're at with our housing and whether or not we are going to achieve that priority. Therefore, second to that, I would say invest in the roads. We have a lot of construction companies in the North. We have a lot of labourers and skilled labourers that work on road and apprentices. To me, this is the way we can make it through the COVID economic downturn.
And having just come back from the climate change conference, I don't have a lot of having been an ice engineer on the ice road, I don't have a lot of faith that we're going to be building ice roads going forward. So to me, investing in roads right now is smart.
We often just heard it yesterday, or the other day, the time to have built the ice road or sorry, the road to the diamond mines was 20 years ago. So do we want to be sitting in 20 more years with no ice roads saying where we should have built roads 20 years ago.
So more of a comment than a question, Madam Chair. But I would like to say that I think this is the only way we can move forward in the next while. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Member for Thebacha.
I just want to reiterate some of the what is said by my colleague from Great Slave. The economic recovery from this pandemic is extremely important. New infrastructure is important. Economic growth is important. And I do not necessarily agree with a couple of other comments that were made by my other colleagues because I feel that, you know, this pandemic had a great effect on the Northwest Territories, especially with the economically, and the only way we're going to recover is making sure that people have something to look forward to, and infrastructure is part of that, apprenticeships. The whole getting people back to work. New infrastructure means new things for Indigenous governments and private industry. And this is the way to go. And I totally agree with the comments that were made by the Member from Great Slave. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. General comments. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Myself as well, I encourage spending on highways and more specifically the Mackenzie Valley Highway. That project has been going on since I was I worked on part of it when I was 16 or 15 years old for crying out loud so you know how long ago that is. A hundred years ago. But, you know, we if we want to move ahead, we got to we need you know, we have to do something major.
You know, having a highway and opening it up is going to, you know, encourage investment in the North and encourage, you know, more development. It's also going to allow, you know, those stranded communities that don't have highway access with the ability to, you know, participate in you know, in what we have on the main highways system.
When we talk about you know, there was comments about made about housing as well. And I agree that, you know, we need housing. But, you know, to get that housing, you know, it can't just be a government project. It has to be solved by the private sector, by Indigenous governments, and through employment of Northerners through infrastructure expenditure.
And what I'm hoping and expecting that, you know, those sitting across from me are, you know, talking with their counterparts with the federal government, going to them with some sound proposals to ensure that we find the money to pay for this. Like, we are a creature of the federal government. That's what we are.
So I don't mind I don't mind spending the money. You know, all areas needs some support. But if we don't push some type of development and push infrastructure, we're just going to be a social state. Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Hay River South. General comments. Thank you, Members.
Seeing that there are no further comments, we will proceed to the detail of the tabled document beginning with the Department of Finance.
The committee has agreed to forego general comments on each department so does the committee agree that we will proceed to the detail contained in the document?
Committee, the Department of Finance begins on page 26, and we will defer the department's totals and review the estimates by activity summary beginning on page 27 with information items on page 28. Are there any questions, comments? Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. On page 28, the mineral administration and registry system, can someone tell me what the total cost of that is going to be, or ballpark figure. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, if I might suggest if we could stop the clock briefly. I was hoping to switch my witnesses out, and I don't want to take time away from the Member to do that.
Chief information officer Rick Wind will be joining us, please.
Okay. Sergeantatarms, would you please change the witnesses.
All right, thank you. Minister, just introduce your witness again for the record.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, this is chief information officer Rick Wind.
Welcome. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks. Do I need to ask the question again? All right. Can someone tell me what the ballpark figure of this mineral administration or registry system is and where we're at with its development? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
I'm not I don't have the number in front of me right now, Madam Chair, but that is being transferred to the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, which is where the Mineral Resources Act Regulatory System is residing. And as I understand, there were some delays back in COVID but it is on track now, and it is moving forward. But I'll just defer to Mr. Wind to see if he has a number as to the estimated total. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Wind.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I do have the cash flow for the MARS project. It is anticipated approximately $3.7 million over the four years. $1.2 million funded this fiscal year pardon me, $1 million is in the 20222023 capital estimates before us today. And there's a further $1.5 million over the next two fiscal years, forecast.
Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, I'm not going to deal with where this is going. I'll deal with that when it comes to a sup.
What are we getting here for this? The reason why I'm raising this is in the last Assembly, we dealt with a lot of devolution legislation that we inherited. There was a lot of public registries set up. I know I've been critical of Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the past for their protected areas registry, the lack of information, the lack of rigor to it. But here we are spending $3.7 million on something for mining. And the other departments don't seem to get any money or do anything with their public registry. So what is this going to allow us do. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So Madam Chair, the MARS project for one of the more significant aspects of it certainly is to bring online staking to the Northwest Territories, which really brings us up to par on something that we are rather painfully behind on, that allows for a much more efficient system and a much more efficient process for those that are actually out doing the staking and for prospectors will hopefully, as I said, bring us into the modern age but also encourage those who are out to be doing to be out and doing the prospecting. It allows for more efficient management of the system from within. And, you know yeah, it's going to allow the Mineral Resources Act to, again, be part of the modern system that we are hoping that it will be by, you know right now, it's all on paper. So there's boxes and boxes of paper of what's out there. That's not a good way to maintain your systems. It's not a good way to ensure efficiency. It's a huge amount of information. We're a huge territory. There's lots of data and information out there. This is a modernization of the system that arguably could have happened a long time ago, but it also has to take its place in line just like everything else. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, I think actually quite a bit actually is available online right now. But is there going to be some sort of policy discussion around how fees are set for online staking? I don't think we want to be in the situation where, like, with significant discovery licenses where companies get to tie up huge swaths of land and do nothing, and that's what online staking can allow. So is there going to be a place and a time for the public, others to weigh in, about how this is actually going to operate and the appropriate fee structures and so on? Is that going to happen in because I've I'm not aware of any discussion of this. I raised it in the last Assembly when we were talking about the Mineral Resources Act. Nobody else wanted to talk about it, especially the Minister. But when are we going to have that policy debate and discussion around online staking and appropriate fees and so on.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I wasn't here in the last Assembly but I'm more than happy to talk to the Member about the fees. There's ongoing work happening right now in terms of developing the Mineral Resources Act and the regulatory system that is required to bring that into force and to have it implemented. So that project is underway. The engagement processes for it are underway. It's a huge project. It's a huge piece of legislation, and the regulatory aspects of it have many branches, including this one.
So I will go back to the Department of ITI and find out what the schedule is for engagement on the various different elements of that act and or, rather, of the regulations. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member.
Thanks, Madam Chair. Thanks for that commitment because I've been asking for that since the start of this Assembly, and I was raising it as an issue in the last Assembly about the need for some kind of a roadmap for how all of this was going to work. I haven't seen anything. And I pay pretty close attention to this, as the Minister well knows. There has been no discussion of claim staking so far during the life of this Assembly in any venue that I've ever been engaged in or involved in. So I really do encourage that to start to take place in parallel with the development of this system.
I don't think I have any further questions on this item. Thanks, Madam Chair. But if the Minister wishes to respond, I'd be delighted to hear it. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So I think really more of the Minister of ITI and not really so much as the Minister of Finance.
I am very committed to the Mineral Resources Act regulatory development. I've been pushing hard to see that it's on track and to see that it involves a lot of engagement. It's going to be improved with the more stakeholders and the more people are involved in terms of discussing it. I'm I do think the Member will hopefully agree that we've had a lot of outreach on a lot of aspects on the Mineral Resources Act thus far, and I'm happy to continue to do that. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I think online map staking is long overdue. Can I just get an estimated idea of when we expect that to exist in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I have the wrong binder open to answer all these detailed questions. But I can say that the project is on track to have its completion of the regulations that will allow the act to come into force this Assembly, which means that it's really within the next couple of years, and if we'll all bear with me, I think the folks from ITI are waiting patiently upstairs. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North. No? No further questions. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Well, I might as well stay on this vein because it did spur a question in me.
It's my understanding with the MARS program, which, yes, we're way behind and I know that industry and explorers have been crying for it for a while, and it does deter investment in our territory.
My question is, there is an economic spinoff for this as well, is there not, and maybe with her Finance hat on, the Minister can answer. It's my understanding that there will have to be a large amount of actual ontheground surveying done in order for this work to be implemented. Is that correct, or am I mixing that up with or perhaps I'm mixing that up with the land claims. But would that be something that could all be rolled in together then, perhaps, Madam Chair. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I thought I was going to get a question that would allow me to talk about the estimated overall economic impacts of the overall capital plan, but I realize that the question was actually a bit more narrow.
I don't have that in front of me right now, Madam Chair. I know that the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Investment is upstairs listening. So if I might, I think that might be an opportunity for me to answer that question when she's here. Thanks.
Thank you, Minister. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Well, then I'll ask that question. What is the economic spinoff? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member sorry, Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, there's and actually I there's I mean, there's a variety of different economic spinoffs that come. There's economic impacts for capital spending that come in the form of anticipated GDP impacts of almost $200 million. There's also labor income that comes over of a hundred million dollars. And then the taxation income that the government gets on people who not on people, but on the taxes people are paying when they are employed. So there's quite a high number of also 944 jobs are anticipated from this kind of a capital spend.
You know, and those of course, these are all estimates because, you know, certainly it depends there's timing of different projects, and some projects do proceed at different paces. But there is a significant impact that comes from the spending on infrastructure.
That's not to say that we don't need to balance the type of spend on infrastructure that we have, that we need to ensure that we're spending on infrastructure that is meaningful and that's going to benefit all of the priorities that we have for this government, which are, you know, complex. But just to say that it's not only the 400 million, several million dollars that we're spending directly if there's hundreds of millions of dollars that impact thereafter. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Are there any further questions, comments to the what section information shared services? I'm seeing none. I'll call the page.
Finance, information system shared service, infrastructure investments, $2,199,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed
Thank you, committee. Please turn to page 29 for Management Board Secretariat with information item on page 30. Questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Madam Chair. How much of the $6 million is federal money through investing in Canada infrastructure fund. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
