Denny Rodgers

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I move that this committee defer further consideration of the main estimates for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment at this time. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in 2001, Inuvik hosted the first annual Inuvik Petroleum Show. It was inspired by the impending announcement that the Mackenzie Valley pipeline was on the horizon, and Inuvik's economic future looked bright. The town was bumping, Mr. Speaker. You could barely find a parking spot downtown. The hotels were busy, the restaurants were crowded, and people were working in the exploration industry. Tour operators were busy, and artisans were selling their products. Mr. Speaker, residents were excited at the prospect of burning clean locally sourced natural gas to...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I move the chair rise and report progress. Thank you.

Okay. So the majority of the $60 million is projects that weren't done last year. For various and sundry reasons that we discussed earlier about capacity and contractors and so on and so forth? Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. No further questions.

Okay, thank you. So the entire $60 million has projects attached to it, buildings attached to it, for 20242025, and then the remainder of the $93 million is carryover from ongoing projects that started last year previous year, is that correct?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you, Madam President, for that information, and Minister Kuptana. I'm very happy to hear that the elders' unit is still in discussion and that we're still and the fact that you're looking at working with other departments to make that land available, very important, particularly in the smaller communities and the coast, I know that, in the Minister's riding. So very encouraging to hear that. I would encourage you to sing that from the rooftops, Minister. I think it's a good news story that we need to get out there to let them know that NWT Housing is not now an...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you for that answer. Just to clarify, $60 million of the $93 million is for projects that have yet to be started and hasn't been committed.

(audio) if we go back to the summary (audio) back to the summary, and I'll ask it then. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for that. Can you provide a dollar value on that $93 million? I think that's what I asked, how much the $93 million that equates to in cash. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So just to clarify, because I know there was no reduction of full-time positions in the Beaufort Delta region, so I guess that obviously was likely amalgamated in the previous year, and did that result in a reduction of a position at ITI in Inuvik, or is that position still -- the manager's position is now filling that role?

I guess -- thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess specifically, I mean, I know a lot of research is being done around permafrost degradation in my region around the -- as the Minister said, around the geoscience, around the knowledge economy, and around the mineral and petroleum potential in that region, particularly around the petroleum potential. So I guess my question is does the Minister feel that that will have a negative impact on the amount of research programs now happening -- ability for research programs to happen at the Aurora research institute, Mr. Chair. Thank you.