Debates of October 30, 2024 (day 35)

Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So how much annual revenue is this new campground expected to bring in? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. That's approximately $9,000 annually.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife North.

Okay. So that is far, far, far less than the cost of building this.

Who was the target market for this new campground or the demographic that we are trying to cater to here? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'll go to the minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, about 53 percent of our visitors to our parks annually are non-NWT residents but that means that 47 percent are NWT residents that use our parks. In the case of this, we do end up with a lot of information about people camping on the side of the road and using those spaces. A lot of those people we know are Northerners as well, and so this is targeting both residents and non-residents. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So to clarify, the idea is to stop people from setting up tents on the side of the road and to instead provide a campground where they can set up tents? Is it to prevent people from doing anything, like, illegally camping or just that we feel that people would prefer to pay to stay in a tent campground beside the road instead of just camping somewhere else on public land? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this is a project that kind of fills multiple needs in the territory and offers a type of back country camping experience for people that are looking to camp in something that's not kind of a designated Fred Henne style camp experience and so affords, you know, our back country rugged visitors and Northerners something other than a traditional campground type experience and also alleviates the need for some additional spillover when our sites are full up or when people want a different experience and they're camping in spaces that aren't traditionally for camping out at the Ramparts for example. So if fills multiple, multiple needs, and it also sits directly on a paddler route -- a well -used paddler route in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I'm really confused. The Minister is talking about back country camping, but my understanding was that you would be able to drive to this campground. Can the Minister clarify what aspect of this is back country? Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I guess there's a lot of different people have different definitions and when you have to get out of your vehicle and you hike in with a backpack on your back and set up next to a road, whether that's 20 feet or, you know, 20 hours, it's still something that is different than the traditional camp experience. It is something that fills a need in the territory and so that's why this exists. I think that we'll have a multitude of different people using it. I could see people from, you know, along the North Slave wanting to go out for a weekend. I can see people from down south coming up and wanting to have an experience that isn't next to RVs and campers and a quieter experience. And so I think that this speaks to the need to have different experiences for people using our parks, and we don't have one of these types of setups in the North Slave at this point. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The last question is was this conclusion reached that we have, like, a hole that -- or a gap that we need to fill here, was that based on some kind of survey or -- like, who has the department talked to to determine that we have this unmet need or this market for this kind of campground? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we often hear about people along the Ingraham Trail who have cabin leases or who are using areas along the trail that they find people kind of camping in different spaces so it allows us to use existing space that we have within ITI in order to provide an experience that people are very clearly looking for. It operates on -- or will operate on an honour system and affords access to kind of off-the-beaten-path style camping both for residents and non-resident the alike. It is another way for us to attract people to the territory and also another route for us to afford on land experiences for residents. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife North.

That's all my questions at this point. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Next on my list I have the Member from the Deh Cho.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My question is about the 60th Parallel Territorial Park outhouse that's at Enterprise, wheelchair accessible outhouse. Is that -- you're going to build a new outhouse there, or is it going to go with the existing outhouse that's by the territorial park? Thank you.

Thank you. To the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, this is the installation of a gravity-fed water system to upgrade the existing outhouses and potentially capable of supporting flush toilets. These enhancements would increase the number of total outhouses on site at the pullout to three. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member of the Deh Cho.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is that going to be used year-round? Is that the year-round access? If it's year-round, it will be heated I'm assuming? Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. The answer to those questions are yes.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from the Deh Cho.

Oh, that's awesome. I have a lot of people that travel back and forth and they're probably really happy right now to hear that news. What is the cost of that going to be to build that? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we've budgeted $110,000 for this project.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from the Deh Cho.

Another question I have on another one is what is the fencing upgrades and security camera installation for Inuvik Happy Valley Territorial Park; why cameras and fencing? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, unfortunately, and I think that we've -- it's no secret that a lot of times the capital dollars that we invest in capital investments often are vandalized and we end up in a very frustrating situation where we are trying to stretch our dollars as far as possible in order to serve residents of the Northwest Territories and we end up with things being vandalized and destroyed. And so this here is in response to arson, vandalism, theft, and trespassing occurrences that have resulted in infrastructure damage that has exceeded tens of thousands of dollars. And so this is not something we normally do at parks, but in response to trying to preserve the investment of hard-earned tax dollars of the people of the Northwest Territories, this is one of the things that we are trying out. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Deh Cho.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So that is just for monitoring for the winter months? Because it's closed in the summer, right? So are you doing this to monitor in the summer as well as the winter or just in the summer? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much. I believe that it is year-round, but I want to -- if you wait two seconds, I've got a staff member typing. But yes -- yes, we have summer -- or staff on site in the summertime and so this would be for the additional months but certainly would have them up all year-round, and they would be in place and able to afford us information year-round. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from the Deh Cho.

Nothing further. Thank you.

Next on my list, again, I'll go back to the Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'm just wondering if the Minister's had a chance to pull up answers to the questions I was asking about the marina anchoring system.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So the cost of the slips are $632.52 for each season. This includes taxes. And unfortunately, I cannot provide the Member with kind of the break-even point on that one at this point but would be happy to follow up with the Member further in writing. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess what I'm looking for is would the Minister commit to converting this facility to a cost-recovery facility going forward?