Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
My first question is will the department commit to advocating on behalf of NWT fishers on the FFMC board to ensure any NWT fishers who wish to supply southern markets can obtain broad exemptions from the corporation within a timely manner? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for ITI.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly was listening earlier to the Member's statement to the concern that the process is unwieldy and difficult. It is not a GNWT process, Mr. Speaker. It is a process governed by the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation to which we're a member. But it is not unfortunately, a process that I can directly change. We have offered support in the past. And I've not had anything raised to me until now that there's been any delays. So we're going to keep an eye on that. I'll certainly make inquiries to see if, in fact, there's been other delays. And if so, we can certainly work with proponents in the industry to make sure they are navigating that system so long as we are still in it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to how much more per pound of fish will the fishers receive at the plant after the new plant is constructed and renovations are done? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for ITI.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish I could give an exact dollar figure that would -- I think it would actually be good news. The work that's being done right now has done initial look at what the markets are anticipated to be and certainly is well aware the potential of our industry. But as far as knowing exactly the state of the market in a year or two years from now, that is not something I can directly predict.
That said, again, in the work that has been done both in terms of understanding the markets, understanding the marketing potential and what's anticipated by the fishers themselves who have done some of that, looking as well, we certainly are expecting, without a doubt, increased prices. How much more, I don't know. That is -- it's a question that the closer we get, then the more we'll be in the moment of knowing what the markets are doing, the better I'll be able to give a direct answer. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate that. I think that's important information. If we want a viable market, it needs to have value.
Mr. Speaker, my next question is does the department expect to remove the authority of the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation in the Northwest Territories; and, if so, what timeline is the department working toward?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, right now the reason that the Northwest Territories continues to be a part of FFMC, it provides a stable and consistent floor for fishers to receive a price for their fish. It provides them a stable paycheque. And that's not a small thing in what is a -- what can be a very challenging industry.
But that said, it's a floor. And it's not necessarily one that markets the product to the extent that we believe it can be and should be and certainly doesn't get that high value for some of these side products that we also recognize that there are markets for.
So having said all that, Mr. Speaker, there's a process underway. And, again, it's led by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans by the federal government. It's not our process. The FFMC is not our entity. But there's a process underway right now, and we're certainly involved and aware of what's going on, to map out a change at the FFMC to turn it into a cooperative of fishers which would certainly change the dynamic that operates there.
I would just also note, though, of course, that a CFIA plant, a certified plant, which is the vision we have, would give more options as well. So there's a couple different tracks that we're on. We're participating in the change that may be happening over at FFMC, and we're looking to get our plant operating so that we have some of those options.
But, again, in the meanwhile, for now, we're certainly allowing fishers to keep the threshold that they have. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think one of the unique things today as well as we go forward with the Great Slave Lake fishery is this plan to have supports in place for marketing and sales for northern fishers. And so I think that that's one of the really exciting parts, it gives the autonomy to northern fishers potentially to increase the value of the market, and to really market themselves in a really unique way to the north. The north has a huge reputation around the world for the fish that come out of our lakes, as it should. And to be able to sell that for the value that it so holds is a really exciting opportunity.
My next question, and last question, Mr. Speaker, is when will the department complete the Great Slave Lake commercial fishery marketing strategy, and will the strategy identify the operations to manage sales with higher value clients than the FFMC? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the sales and marketing strategy is expected to be complete, right now the target is March 31st 2022, so a few months -- a few short months away, I would say. And, Mr. Speaker, the point is I think exactly what the Member is getting at, which is namely that we are looking to provide information to the industry here, but what channels, what clients are available to them, that is something more than -- something more that's higher end that's going to really bring the value that we see, that we believe exists for freshwater fish in the Northwest Territories, and to add the higher value products that right now, they're not accessing but relying solely on the FFMC or primarily on FFMC.
So a few months away, Mr. Speaker. I'm sure the Member's written that date down, and I can look forward to discussing it further. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.
