Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Minister.

Yes, Mr. Chairman, I can reassure the Members that any of the expenditures for the highway toll fund in preparation will come out of the toll. It will not come out of general revenues.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Motor vehicles, not previously authorized, $1,800,000.

Agreed. Community access roads, $136,000, special warrants.

Agreed. Total department, special warrants, $136,000.

Agreed. Not previously authorized, $1,885,000.

Agreed. We are moving on to Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, operations expenditures, corporate management, not previously authorized, $2,955,000. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I just want to make a point here that there are an awful lot of projects here that are tied into the Non-Renewable Resource Development Strategy -- I am sorry I am so used to calling it the NERD strategy -- and we have talked about $8 million to date in Maximizing Northern Employment in this supplementary appropriation. I have not seen a penny in here for tourism. We talked earlier in this session about the importance of tourism. I wonder if the Minister could speak to the investment that his department is making in tourism and specifically in tourism promotion, and why we have not seen any additional funding going in this year. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, let me say that we did leave $1,275,000 in the budget for tourism. That was there in anticipation of having the hotel tax in place. There was $900,000 that was left with the tourism association and there was $375,000 left in RWED. The tourism sector did get a big boost this year because we did not take that money back.

This money in here for aboriginal government and private sector partnerships of $1 million is not limited to just oil and gas and big industry. It could also very well be used for tourism if that is where the interest from the aboriginal government and private sector was coming from. It is not limited to other sectors.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate that. Can the Minister just confirm that the tourism money that he was talking about was passed on to the Northwest Territories Arctic Tourism body? Could he also advise us, is that now in their continuing base funding? Is the department going to keep that money available in subsequent years?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, it was put in as base money. It was not one-time funding. Unless we vote otherwise, it is there.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Corporate management, $2,955,000, not previously authorized. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To the aboriginal government and private sector partnership fund, I would just like to see if I can get a bit more of an explanation about who the potential customers or clients can be for accessing this fund? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, we expect that aboriginal governments will be able to access a fair bit of money through the Aboriginal Economic Development Strategy money with the federal government. There will be a requirement when they do that, a request for us to cost share. I expect to see a lot of applications over the coming year where they will want to, and they have done it already, get money from the federal government and we will be asked to put in money. That is one source.

The other is with the private sector. Many of the oil and gas companies, in their desire to come and do business up here, have already indicated that they want to get involved in training projects and employment projects. For example, Akita and the project in Inuvik where they moved a drill rig in. They have made a contribution and expect us to make a contribution.

I cannot really predict all of them, but what we are saying to the aboriginal governments and private sector is that we are prepared to cost share in joint ventures that result in an increased workforce. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to know how this fund will be different from other business programs that this government has, like the Northwest Territories Development Corporation, the Business Development Corporation. What is the difference here? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.