That would be a great deal of work to put together. What I would suggest is the coroner does put together an annual report and Members avail themselves of that report and have questions from that. That’s something we can address. What the Member is asking for would take a great deal of work to put together and track and everything. We would never know exactly what the Members might want. One Member might want something and another Member might want something else. That would be a difficult task, Mr. Chairman.

I guess maybe the Minister is thinking of something different than what I’m thinking of. The coroner’s report, from my recollection, does not give us how recommendations were handled, what an individual department did with those recommendations. So it’s conceivable that the Standing Committee on Social Programs, for instance, may ask for the data, all the recommendations that came from the coroner in the last year, please provide us with how the recommendations were handled, what each department did. I guess what I’m suggesting is instead of waiting for standing committee to ask for it, the department or the government somehow, maybe it goes through a different department, or that a department is proactive and it’s also a way of ensuring that recommendations have been dealt with. Maybe the department didn’t think the recommendation was necessary and refused the recommendation, but it’s that sort of information that’s important that we get to the public and it’s important that it get to Members so we can consider, from an accountability perspective, that the recommendations of these people that we’ve hired to do these jobs are at least being looked at and hopefully being adhered to and that we’re seeing positive change. Thank you.

The coroner would make recommendations. They are not required and there is no legal obligations for them to feed responses back to the coroner. There’s just not that legal obligation there. It would be hit and miss, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

To the Minister, yes, I know there is no legal obligation, but I think there is a moral obligation on the part of government to respond to recommendations from people that we hire to try to make life better for our residents. I would encourage the Minister to think about providing some kind of a summary of coroner’s recommendations and how they have been handled by various departments in the government. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, we will give that some thought and take a look at how we can accomplish that. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Ramsay. Committee, we’re on page 315, services to public, operations expenditure summary, $5.152 million. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. Page 316, services to public, active positions, information item. Any questions?

Thank you, committee. Page 317, Justice, lease commitments, information item. Any questions?

Page 318, work performed on behalf of others – it’s actually pages 318 and 319 together – information item. Any questions?

Thank you, committee. Committee, if I could get you to return to page 289, department totals. Justice, department totals, $128.797 million. Does committee agree?

Does committee agree that consideration of the Department of Justice is completed?

Thank you, committee. I’d like to thank our witnesses today here, Ms. Haener and Ms. Schofield. Thank you for joining us and, of course, the Minister. If I could get the Sergeant-at-Arms to please escort the witnesses out of the House. Thank you.

Thank you, committee. We’re going to continue with our main estimates here. We’re going to continue with Industry, Tourism and Investment. With that, we’ll turn it over to the Minister responsible for opening comments. Minister Ramsay.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to present the 2015-2016 Main Estimates for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Overall, the department’s main estimates propose total operational costs of approximately $65.6 million for this coming fiscal year, an increase of over $3 million, or 5.6 percent, from ‘14-15. This includes sunsets of over $4.4 million, over $6 million in new initiatives and nearly $800,000 in forced growth, most of which is collective bargaining increases. It also includes the transfer of ITI’s energy planning division and associated initiatives to Public Works and Services at nearly $1.7 million as well as a transfer of $2.3 million to Environment and Natural Resources to implement the realignment of fur harvester support programming.

The mandate of ITI is to promote economic self-sufficiency through responsible management and sustainable development of Northwest Territories’ mineral and petroleum resources and the promotion and support of trade, tourism, agriculture, film, fisheries, business and manufacturing. Through our mandate, we support this government’s commitment to ensure that all residents have the opportunity to build a stronger future for themselves, their families and their communities.

In 2015-2016 ITI will help to strengthen and diversify the NWT economy by proposing

investments in a number of programs and projects. This includes a focus on implementing strategies to support economic growth and prosperity as well as initiatives to support the added responsibilities that ITI now has as a result of devolution.

The Northwest Territories’ future economic growth is closely linked to mineral development, and through the advancement of the Mineral Development Strategy Implementation Plan, ITI is proposing to invest $1.4 million in 2015-2016 towards initiatives outlined in the implementation plan, including: • $650,000 for the Northwest Territories

Geoscience Office to deliver its Geoscience Research Program, which helps to provide publicly available geoscience information, supports resource development and land use decisions, and attracts mineral exploration activities and investment.

• $400,000 for the Mining Incentive Program. This

program was launched in June 2014 to provide funding to eligible prospectors and mining exploration companies operating in the NWT, offsetting some of the financial risks associated with grassroots mineral development.

• $100,000 for Aboriginal capacity building. The

funding will be used to support Aboriginal organizations and communities to participate in the consultation and decision-making process related to mineral development.

• $149,000 to support business coordination,

helping to connect NWT business owners with those involved in the mining industry and to identify development opportunities in the regions.

• $140,000 to market and promote the NWT as

an attractive place for investment in responsible mineral exploration and development.

ITI also proposes $85,000 in the coming year for purchases necessary to relocate geological materials to the proposed Geological Materials Storage Facility. This facility will house the GNWT’s significant geological collection, which will provide key information to prospectors and exploration companies, helping to lower their costs, reduce the environmental footprint of exploration and support future exploration. Another key objective for ITI in the coming fiscal year is to invest in the actions outlined in the Economic Opportunities Strategy Implementation Plan. The EOS plan focuses on diversifying the economy through supporting the NWT’s small business community; pursuing major investment projects; growing a stable and attractive entrepreneurial environment; and attracting, retaining and preparing residents to become active participants in the territory’s economic environment.

ITI proposes to invest $2.4 million for the ‘15-16 fiscal year in the following EOS initiatives: • $1.5 million to revitalize the commercial fishing

industry through the construction of a new fish plant, raising the profile for fish harvested in the territory and marketing locally caught fish to consumers, and improving our capability to export through the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation.

• $461,000 in tourism-related initiatives including

tourism product diversification and marketing, infrastructure to support community-based tourism, a convention bureau to profile the NWT as a top conference destination, and support to address gaps in the hospitality and tourism training needs.

• $100,000 in support for the film industry through

a new rebate program that will help to increase film production by providing incentives to production filming on location in the NWT.

• $200,000 for regional economic plans, to help

residents across the territory to become directly involved in planning regional development activities.

• $100,000 to develop an agricultural strategy to

support the agriculture industry, which has been flourishing across the territory the past few years and holds great promise for future development and lowering the cost of living.

• $100,000 for business internships support to

assist small businesses, particularly those located outside the regional centres, and to attract and retain qualified people.

ITI supports this government’s priority to ensure the francophone community in the NWT can access programs and services in French. Therefore, the department is looking to invest $272,000 in 2015-2016 to provide these services.

ITI also supports this government’s goal to increase employment opportunities in the regions, where they are needed most. ITI is already a highly decentralized organization with five regional offices and a BIP office located in Hay River, and the petroleum resources division, which has offices in Hay River and Inuvik.

For 2015-2016 ITI plans to relocate the territorial parks office from Yellowknife to Hay River.

To support parks operations in the South Slave and Beaufort-Delta regions, forced growth funding of $112,000 is being proposed to cover increased operational costs associated with utilities and park operator contracts. Existing internal resources have been reallocated to pay for an additional parks officer in the South Slave region, to be located in Fort Providence.

While support for new programs and initiatives is important to foster economic development and opportunities for residents and businesses, the department will continue to invest in existing programs and services that help to provide economic benefits throughout the NWT. It is the programs and services available at the community level that directly impact the lives of our residents.

The information I have shared today are some of the many examples of how ITI works on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories to provide residents and businesses in all communities with opportunities and options to turn potential into prosperity. That concludes my opening remarks. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Minister Ramsay. Do you have witnesses you’d like to bring into the House?

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Minister Ramsay. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. Sergeant-at-Arms, if you could please escort the witnesses into the House.

For the record, Mr. Ramsay, if you could introduce your witnesses to the House.