Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Yellowknife.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, of course I couldn't speak directly to the correlation, but what I can say is every year while the mineral incentive policy is fully subscribed that not every year are all of those dollars spent. Sometimes at the end of the year companies have to give those dollars back because they weren't able to spend them how they originally anticipated. But I would say the best thing that we can do to continue to increase exploration in the territory is continue to have good conversation like this, continue to make sure that we are participating in events...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, microclusters are these basically, like, individual business entities that kind of grow and generate themselves within different communities. So, for example, you know, if I travelled to community X, Y, Z, and they're saying, you know, we're really interested in getting agriculture going, we really see the potential, and that starts to generate and you end up with this microcluster of an agriculture industry within that one community that grows and supports itself and evolves from there, and Hay River is a great example of that where, you know...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, it's all assessment work that gets reviewed by our professional geologists, and there are specific reporting requirements that they have to adhere to at the end of their program. And so because the geologists are well versed in the sector and aware of what costs should come in at, there's a natural vetting that takes place in that process. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, in 2024-2025, the main estimates are $500,000 investment for the contributions for the film rebate program. And in the following year for 2025-2026, the investment would go up another $500,000 to $1 million investment. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I don't have that level of information. But I'm going to look to my colleagues here. And can I pass it to the deputy minister. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, developing regulations for the Mineral Resources Act is one of the key commitments from the Government of the Northwest Territories to support responsible resource development. This Act represents a new chapter for our mining sector, setting the stage for modernization and shared prosperity for residents, Indigenous governments, and our industry partners.

The Act and future regulation will increase opportunities for exploration by providing more time to explore claims before transitioning to leases and making it easier to collect high-quality geoscience data...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the primary driver of that is the Hay River fish plant. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, as long as there's nothing -- you know, no personal identifiers or something like that that couldn't be public disclosed, I'm always happen to be as transparent as possible as long as we're not infringing on a previous commitment made to the participants or anything like that. But I would like the opportunity just to ensure, but absolutely, so long as there's nothing wonky in there that I'm not aware of, then I would love the opportunity to share it.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. And, Mr. Chair, I appreciate the Member bringing this up, the multipliers within the film industry in the Northwest Territories are absolutely incredible, and so being able to capitalize on that is definitely worth our investment for sure. For that reason, in this budget from Main Estimate 2023-2024 and Main Estimate 2024-2025, you do see an increase in the film rebate program of $400,000, and there is future increases to come as well. Thank you.