Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in last fall's business plans, the department described some programming under this skills development that was going to be coming forward. One of them was, in fact, the Youth Mentorship Program, which I'm happy to see we're dedicating $125,000 to that program. The business plans also highlighted the Tourism Training Fund and also the Tourism Business Mentorship, and it's my understanding that those two programs are going to also come out of the Tourism Skills Development pot. First of all, I'll get clarification. Are all three of these programs, in fact, coming out of the Tourism Skills Development pot of money, and if $125,000 of it is going to the Youth Mentorship how much is going to be going to the Tourism Training Fund and how much is going to the Tourism Business Mentorship? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Ms. Mujcin.

Thank you, Ms. Mujcin. Mr. Vanthuyne.

Okay, that's good, Mr. Chair. I thank you for that clarification, and so that explains the expenditures in those other two areas. This is an area, of course, that's very supportive of our mandate. It's a direct investment into a growing industry that I feel is very important, and I'm happy to see that the department has committed these kinds of funds to skills development, specifically for tourism. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister Schumann.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think at this time, too, I want to take the opportunity to talk about the Regional Community Tourism Development and Capacity Building Workshops that we're going to be doing this year. We've got some money from the federal government and we're going to be contributing a portion of it to it, and we're going to be putting on community workshops to recognize the value of community tourism and identify champions in the communities, and all these sorts of things. So I think it's another good initiative that we're putting forward to promote tourism in the Northwest Territories and help build regional capacity. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann.

Thank you, committee. Any further questions? I see no further questions or comments from committee. Please return now to page 210, Industry, Tourism and Investment, tourism and parks, operation expenditure summary, total activity, $14,737,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. Before returning to the departmental total, we'll consider the information items on pages 213 to 215, including lease commitments, NWT Environmental Studies Research Fund, and work performed on behalf of others. I remind committee to specify the page on which the item can be found when asking questions. Does committee have any questions or comments? Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm looking at page 214, which is the Environmental Studies Research Fund, and I guess for 2017-18 looking at spending $298,000, and there's still a closing balance of $326,000. I'm just wondering why there's not a plan to spend more of the funding than $298,000. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Schumann.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. If you look at the top of the page, they actually have an authorized limit of $15 million. If there's a surplus there this year it's because the projects are brought forward every year. Depending on how the expenditures roll out maybe that was a carryover from last year's, but these funds that come available are based on levies on oilfield leases. Thank you, Mr. Chair

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Okay, I'll try to go at this a different way. Is there a plan or a strategy for the use of these funds? Have research priorities been identified? I'm just wondering why we're not spending more of the money in a given year, why we're surplussing money. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Schumann.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is not a surplus. This stays within the fund, so as the fund either goes up or down it will be used accordingly, but my understanding is with the NWT Environmental Studies Research Fund is they put out a call for proposals on initiatives annually when they move forward. I don’t want to call it a revolving fund, but it's basically sitting there for the next initiative. Some proposals come in under budget for what they budget for, and I suspect that could be an accumulation of probably that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I confess to using the wrong words, but there's a closing balance here. It's more than the money that's budgeted to be spent this year, but I'll just park that one for now. I think we should just be using more of that money, but does this fund actually have a plan, a strategy of priorities that have been identified for the use of these funds, and if so can the Minister provide it? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Schumann:

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is based on proposals that come in and that the board sees that they're going to follow up on. One of the things I want to make clear, this isn’t government money in this fund. This is money that comes from levies from industry, and that is their money that is invested in this fund. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Well, the money may come from industry; this is not their money. This is money that's to be used for environmental studies, and if there's no plan for actually spending this money or priorities, so we just throw it open to requests for proposals. That to me doesn't sound like a very wise investment of the money. Is there not a set of research priorities or needs that have been identified so that the funds can be used in the wisest way possible, whether it's to understand the effects of oil and gas exploration on woodland caribou or offshore or whatever? What is the plan to spend this money? Thank you, Mr. Chair.