Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m only asking because there was a big increase and I see the importance of the investment in the economy and getting our people working and trying to get investors into the Northwest Territories as well as bring up tourists and diversify our economies in the Sahtu and Inuvik, in the Beaufort-Delta and those areas. So I’m in agreement.
I just wanted to know if the process was undertaken when the department was going through their operations budget. The only reason why is because we do have standing committees that go through these budgets very thoroughly and very detailed, not only this department but all other departments, and there are suggestions that are brought up not only in this budget but even our last budget. We were given a straight out no in terms of investments and a lot of it is investments in people’s health, their education and other areas, and the departments have been reflective. What concerns me is that some of the action plans we’re doing will not have the exact resources that they need.
So I just wanted to ask, and I know some colleagues of mine want to make sure that each
department does go through their fiscal restraint policy when moving forward.
With that said, moving on, as I said, the tourism industry I think is thriving and it’s starting to get some strong momentum moving forward in getting people up in the Northwest Territories. I commend the department on that work. I had questions earlier in the House today and it’s nice to see that money is going out into the communities.
The film industry that was mentioned, that’s another thriving industry that’s doing a lot of really good work. That $100,000, is that new dollars on top of the dollars that they got last year? I think they got $100,000 last year as well. Is this new funding for them? Thank you.