Thank you, Mr. Chair. Five employers have indicated a commitment or a strong interest in offering traineeships to seven students going forward. I will have to find out if this has been rolled out yet and see what the uptake is going to be on it, thank you, Mr. Chair, and I'll get back to the Member.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Vanthuyne.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. All right. That seems to at least have some positive uptake, which I appreciate. I look forward to the update. This is also the activity where we can talk a little bit about oil and gas. I appreciate that there's been some attention drawn towards oil in particular lately as it relates to the Beaufort Sea and as well as the declining oil reserves in the Sahtu region. That leads us to maybe look at some other areas. An area that has been drawing more attention recently has been the kind of high Arctic inline gas fields.

I'm just wondering: can the Minister provide us some detail on what the department is expecting to do in the coming months and years to exploit this potential opportunity? This is an opportunity where we can maybe capture some gas that can be utilized in the northern remote communities rather than having to truck LNG all the way from southern Canada. I just wonder if the Minister can share some detail with us with regard to inline gas. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. First of all, this last calendar year, we gave some money to help IRC with an initiative to study the feasibility of regional natural gas reserves in that region, along with the federal government. Canmore chipped in, we chipped in, and the IRCs participated in doing this. I believe that study is coming forward, is going to hopefully have a report to you by May, is my understanding on that.

When we come forward with our petroleum, oil, and gas strategy going forward, there's going to be a portion in there where we want to concentrate on how do we export using our resources for our own people in our own regions. We can't continually just focus on how we were going to constantly export this. We don't know when the price of commodities will come back up and the number of infrastructure dollars that we need to invest in our territory to make this stuff a reality. As we all know, the APG is on hold with their certificate due to low commodity prices and again because of a lack of infrastructure in these regions that make us less competitive. That well said though, we need to focus territorially on how we're going to do that. There are a number of proponents already after we went to the Arctic Energy and Emerging Technologies Conference in Inuvik. They are having a hard look at that region, how they can maybe tap into one of the wells in that region. That's all due to the fact just because of the new Tuktoyaktuk to Inuvik Highway that has opened up that area that makes the cost a little more attractive and maybe bring the price of LNG down, either decompressed or liquefied versus shipping it all the way from northern BC up to there at a competitive price. Those people continue to work on that and update me on their projects, on how that's moving forward.

Member Thompson has asked me lately in the House, as of a couple of days ago, how we can maybe look at how can we use the natural gas in the Cameron Hills. These are the sorts of discussions that are going on. A lot of these are driven by industry. They are not driven by us. We are there to try to support them in the best way we can to be able to lower our costs of living for residents in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that full answer from the Minister. Most certainly, I think we need to exploit this opportunity, if anything, for our purposes as a territory. You shared that industry is driving a lot of this discussion. There is the upcoming Oil & Gas Symposium in Calgary. I just wonder: is the department going to be attending? Is the Minister attending? Maybe just an update on that so that we can learn a little bit more from industry. I would think that, if we are having critical discussions here about oil and gas in the Northwest Territories, then we might want to have some representation. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister Schumann.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I, myself, am not attending the oil and gas show this year. I did go last year, but we are sending staff to participate in this year's conference. We'll see what comes out of that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, the chair of EDE didn't get an invite to that either, so he won't be going either.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is also where we talk about, and correct me if I'm wrong, the secondary diamond industry. This is an industry that we've seen come and go over the years. Not long ago, we thought with the coming of Almod Diamonds that we would start to see another uptake in the secondary diamond industry again. I am just wondering: can the Minister provide us with an update on Almod Diamonds, if he can let us know what stage they are at? What, if any, other interests have there been from stakeholders or investors who want to invest in the secondary diamond industry here, in the North? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister Schumann.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. First of all, I will update the House a little bit on Almod. I had a conversation with him. Maybe some Members don't realize that, when the hurricane season hit the Caribbean, he has a number of stores down there that got either totally wiped out or severely damaged. A number of his staff had their homes totally destroyed. In one particular case, he had staff guarding his safe where the whole building was gone, even though their house was totally wiped out. He had significant challenges over the course of the hurricane season. I still believe they continue to do so. They haven't got all their operations up and running.

I phoned him after that just to have a conversation with him and see how he and his staff were doing. They are trying to keep things rolling. They are rebuilding as they go. The challenges that they are having around the Yellowknife operation comes back to Member Vanthuyne's comments around immigration. The federal system is slow and cumbersome. They are trying to bring their trainers to Yellowknife to be able to open this facility. Almod has a patented cut called the “Crown of Light,” which is a 90-some facet cut compared to a 54. He has a unique type of diamond that he sells as a product. He needs a certain type of people to be able to train people to be able to do this.

The immigration process is holding him up. He has already, like I announced in the House, purchased the facilities. He has purchased a residence for his staff, and he is eager to get going. We are totally in support of him trying to get through the immigration process so he can get these people up here and get this thing going. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Vanthuyne, your time has expired. Next, we have Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Looking at page 221, I would like to ask some questions about the Mining Incentive Program. This program was increased in last year's budget to a million dollars, more than double. I am just wondering if the Minister can speak to whether all of this money got out the door last fiscal or this fiscal year. Did all the money invested into this fund get used? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Schumann.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. For 2017-2018, we anticipate spending $991,055 of that million dollars. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is a significant amount of the total used. I am pleased to hear that. Has the Minister received any feedback from industry on this program and the increase to it that he can share with the House today? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Schumann.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I can't remember specifically who the individual was, but I remember they sent me a letter saying they wouldn't have been able to do their program in the Northwest Territories without this program. While we were at Mineral Roundup at the AME, I had a couple of people come up to me who thanked us for having this program in place and the other initiatives that we have to promote the mining industry in the Northwest Territories.

I don't have to tell the Members of this House that there is a lot of interest in mining in the Northwest Territories. As things start to come together, if we get some infrastructure funding to help promote some of these things, I believe we are going in the right direction with the programs that we have in place. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the Minister for that update. I am a great supporter of this important subsidy program to our mining industry. I wanted to also turn to secondary diamonds. My honourable friend from Yellowknife North was just scratching the surface of some of these issues. The Minister announced the establishment of a new secondary diamond operation with much fanfare. We haven't had many updates since then. What action is the department taking to help move this process along and eliminate this immigration roadblock? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Schumann.