Caroline Wawzonek

It turns out that today, in fact, the tourism development officer from the South Slave is meeting with the SAO from Enterprise. I will personally follow up so that I can see what transpired in that meeting and will communicate with my colleague the MLA to let him know also what transpired at that meeting and to hopefully advance whatever projects might be discussed and whatever ideas might be discussed.

With respect to the campground contracts, those do go through a procurement process. I will follow up with the MLA to ensure that he is aware and that the SAO in the community is aware when...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can say that the Department of ITI has been recently quite involved working with the community to support some of their economic development programs and projects. The deputy minister has been there several times, as has deputy minister of ENR, working with the community, again, specifically on their economic development. I am confident that they can, again, reach out to the community, continue that involvement, and continue to support them in looking for economic development opportunities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The direct appointment process is one that is quite carefully used. There are specific rationales, and only under those specific rationales can a department request a direct appointment. Then the rationale needs to be, of course, reviewed by the Minister before supporting the request for direct appointment. It is most often used, Mr. Speaker, for situations where a competition has been held and a position can't be filled. It's been used to make use of the tools and techniques, such as Indigenous Gateway and internship programs, and to try to support those individuals here in the Northwest...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Every department is responsible for their own hiring. What they would do, then, is bring in the Department of Finance and human resources. We are there to, indeed, support that process and to work with them to make sure that, in fact, the Affirmative Action Policy is being properly applied. I certainly am confident that that does happen. Every time these questions come through my office, we are able to review and to look at and to ensure that the policy is being applied. The short answer, Mr. Speaker, is yes. Thank you.

Obviously, government budgeting is dear to my heart, but we're about to go into the process of reviewing ITI's budget and reviewing ITI's proposals for going forward in the next year. I don't think this is a question of a dollar-for-dollar in the Department of ITI that is going to advance mineral exploration alone. I appreciate the effort to look for creative solutions, look for ways to advance this. It is something that is already one of the priorities of the 19th Legislative Assembly. All of us know that this continues to be an anchor industry, and everyone is seeking solutions to see it...

When that report came out, certainly, anytime there is a public statement of that kind, any kind of report-card-type document, we would certainly take that seriously and want to look at it and analyze it. I have actually already set up a meeting with the department to do exactly that. That said, Mr. Speaker, I also want to just ensure that the public messaging around what we are doing with our regulatory processes and the efforts within the department to provide pathfinding. There are staff specifically assigned to pathfinding, and there is already work being done to having a roadmap for those...

This should be really good news. The government is too easily told that we are siloed and don't work well together, but in fact, this is an occasion where, yes, there is information across departments. Multiple departments are high government information creators and drivers and users. The interdepartmental working group that includes the Bureau of Statistics, population, health, Environment and Natural Resources. There're ITI elements involved that have high use of information. This is an occasion where they are, indeed, working, and a very active group. Yes. Let me begin by certainly...

If only all the things that I read were in a briefing note, my life would be simple. No, this is not in the briefing note, Mr. Speaker, and it is being updated in real time. I can say right now, ISSS, which is responsible for the framework, is expecting to have that completed by fall of 2021, with the portal operational in 2022. I hesitate because, if there's any way that I can push that along a little bit, I certainly will. I am conscious that this is something that is a huge part of having a more open and transparent government. I do want to work towards having it available more quickly, but...

As I said, it just turns out by happenstance there is a meeting happening today at the SAO level. I will follow up on that and see where it gets to. There are staff across the South Slave who work on tourism.

Mr. Speaker, just a few years ago, I was told that, in fact, money had been advanced to the community of Enterprise to look at building visitor capacity. The project didn't go forward, but I certainly wouldn't want there to be any misunderstanding of the willingness of ITI to work with the community to see if they are interested in pursuing something and to see what funding might be...

To the extent that there can be support from ITI with economic development or support to individual businesses with respect to their business plans, whether it's through economic development type supports or whether it's through the BDIC, with respect to, for example, loans, I can certainly ensure and direct the department to reach out so that they have all the available supports there for them.

As far as the government actually stepping in to buy private market assets, I don't want to give any false hope that that is not likely to be something the government is going to be doing, but we are...