Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regard to the money that the government had put aside to help revitalize the commercial fishery, two days ago when I questioned the Minister of ITI about this he said, "The important thing about the $1.4 million is for the Department of ITI to use that as leverage for the funding that we are putting forward to CanNor to give us the best potential to help build that plant in Hay River," and he said, "We're getting very close to an agreement with Freshwater regarding the plant."
So, Mr. Speaker, because this $1.4 million isn't in next year's budget, is it because the Minister is confident that, before the end of this fiscal year, that money will be spent because we will have a deal for a new fish processing plant in Hay River? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is exactly what I'm hoping is going to happen with our deliberations with CanNor and Freshwater Marketing Corporation. Things are moving along, and when we make a deal I will announce it in the House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
He had me pretty nervous, there. If this deal isn't struck and this money isn't spent by the end of this fiscal year, can this community have a guarantee that this $1.4 million will be put back into the 2017-18 budget?
As this is a mandated item for this Government of the Northwest Territories and it is my file and it's very important to me, if we don't make a deal before the end of this fiscal year I will be asking to carry this over in the summer.
An ask isn't a guarantee. I assumed the Ministers had the power to do more than just ask, but I'll take it for now. ITI has an agricultural consultant position. I spoke about it earlier. It's located here in Yellowknife. You know, with the beautiful, fertile ground in Yellowknife it only makes sense, right? Well, no, this used to be back in Hay River, you know, the heart of agriculture. I don't even know why I have to ask this, but can I get a guarantee from the Minister that this position will be moved back to Hay River? Better yet, can it be re-profiled so it's agriculture and fisheries, because we do have the two big industries in Hay River?
There appears to be a couple questions there. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
First of all, this position still remains in Hay River, and to update the House, actually this job is at Human Resources. It's looking to become filled in the coming weeks, and with consultation on the job description moving forward we want to switch this job to an analyst position where it can look after agriculture and fishing. So this job remains in Hay River and it will look after both strategies.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question. I won't put the Minister on the spot by asking him to justify why the manager of fisheries and agriculture is in Yellowknife. We know it can't be justified. So can I get the Minister to not just look into moving this position? It doesn't even need to be looked into. Can we just have this position moved to where it logically should be, in Hay River? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This manager position is located in Yellowknife. Its duties are a pan-territorial responsibility and it's best fit here in the ITI headquarters, and we have no plans on moving this position to Hay River.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.
