Deputy Premier
Statements in Debates
Again, Madam Chair, for the most up-to-date, I'm going to suggest we go over to Deputy Minister Strand, please.
Madam Chair, please do not shoot at the outhouses. Madam Chair, I am actually heading to Inuvik in a couple of weeks from now, and in keeping with earlier themes this session, with respect to outhouses, there is an ADM meeting happening tomorrow morning between ITI and Infrastructure to figure out the previously promised plan around outhouse maintenance in the Northwest Territories on, obviously, highways, roadways, pullouts, parks, so that includes parks. I will kind of add this one to the list that, if the outhouse facilities in the parks in the Beaufort-Delta are not up to par, obviously...
Thank you, Madam Chair. No. Madam Chair, just confirming. I did certainly confirm back with the department after the discussion here in the House that there is continued interest to have some sort of a coupon once again. Hearing it on the floor of the House is an important tool that raises its profile in the department, so we are well aware, and we want to have that ready to go. As I said, again, the dates for bookings do open in May, so a bit of time, but we want the information out. I am conscious of that. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I would propose to have that go to Deputy Minister Strand, please.
Madam Chair, I was wondering what the examination question was going to be here. I can certainly make a commitment that we can put something together that explains how the two work and where the line between the two is, but I am also going to take away the fact that, if there are occasions where these two programs are not communicating effectively, that is a bigger conversation that I will also take away. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Madam Chair, typos are pretty rare in the main estimates. No, it's not a typo. Look, the mineral resources sector has had some pretty significant struggles over the last year and, we are expecting, likely will continue to have some pretty significant ups and downs in the year to come. The estimates in the forecast are perhaps a bit conservative, but I suspect the Minister of Finance would rather have a conservative estimate than have a wide variation in terms of the own-source revenues that we are expecting to have come in. If, in fact, the diamond markets continue to rebound, as they seem to...
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll just direct that back to Deputy Minister Strand again, please.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. Tourism certainly is quite dear to my heart, and I continue to hear about the impacts of COVID-19, specifically the border restrictions on this sector. Madam Chair, it was my goal to have something sort of a little more concrete to be able to get back to Members and out to the public during the course of this session. We still have a few weeks left, so my goal is not quite over yet. We are working quite diligently, I would say, right now, to make sure that whatever programs are put in place for the 2021-2022 year continue to do what we did in 2020-2021, which was...
Thank you, Madam Chair. I expect that it should be released, I want to say, this session. "Imminently" is, perhaps, a safer way of putting it.
Thank you, Madam Chair. To the extent that it appears as a line item, this particular line item program was sunsetting this year, and so that is why it does then continue to sunset. A lot of what it was being used for in the past was to support Indigenous governments or Indigenous organizations or community organizations to attend functions like roundup or PDAC, national-level conferences, which this year are not happening, so it was not an urgent item to need to have funded or renewed for this year. Again, it gives us that opportunity to conclude the review. There is some funding that can be...