Thank you, Mr. Jensen. Mr. Vanthuyne.

Okay. Thank you. Just to be clear, this isn't similar in nature to something like the Mining Incentive Program but for Indigenous interests in mineral resource development; as the Deputy Minister described, this is like assistance to help participation at events like roundup? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Mr. Jensen.

Thank you, Mr. Jensen. Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No further questions in this activity.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Any further questions from committee? Seeing none, I will call the page. Minerals and petroleum resources, operations expenditure summary, $16,569,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you. Next, we have tourism and parks, operations expenditure summary, $17,314,000. That is on pages 218 to 221. Any questions from committee? Mr. Vanthuyne.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, I will start like I do every year in this category, by commending the department for a lot of the great work that they have done in terms of the investment to a number of our parks throughout the territory, but, in particular, Ingraham Trail and the numerous recreational parks that we have on that road, as that is in my riding. There have been considerable improvements made in recent years, so I just think it is important to let the department know that that work is well appreciated.

That said, one of the aspects that I want to raise in this department is: I think it was in this budget, during this budget process last year, we talked about the idea of putting a pilot project together where we would open up Prelude Territorial Park Loop C. This was to allow for some tour operators to call it a base where they could host aurora tour viewing. We were going to charge a fee. There were some fairly valid reasons to give consideration to this opportunity, let's call it.

Since that time, I just want to let the department know that we have had some concerns raised by tour operators, especially some of the older, more-established tour operators who have their own leases, their own land titles, their own assets and stuff that they have invested in significantly over the years who have shared with me some concern with regard to this particular pilot project.

While I was in favour of this when we first proposed it last year, and recognizing that it is a pilot project, I am wondering if the Minister and the department can share some insight as to, first of all, how well it is going? How many operators have taken them up on the particular opportunity? What kind of rates are we charging on a daily basis? Maybe we will start there, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister Schumann.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As we said, this is a pilot project that we have initiated. The main reasons we have done this are due to safety reasons, for one thing. There has been so much traffic on the Ingraham Trail. A number of the operators who have been operating out there who don't have access to land are stopping right on the highway and turning their lights off for viewing opportunities. That has created a very big safety hazard. As we know, in the wintertime is the resupply for fuel for the diamond mines. There is an atrocious amount of traffic that is out there.

This is one of the reasons we wanted to do this pilot project. What it has done is allowed up to 30 operators to access sites on the Ingraham Trail out there to get off the highway system. You have to be a licenced operator to do this. There is a fee that is applied to this. It is $2,000 a year, I think, for the licenced operators to access these sites for winter use. I think it has been a success so far.

Going forward, I hear the Member saying that there are some concerns around some of these older operators. One of the other things that these guys have to be a little more flexible about is there are all different, various levels of tour operators. There are some very successful tour operators in the Northwest Territories who cater to high-end customers, and there are low-end-tourist-cater operators who look after the lower end. They don't have access to these types of capital assets where they can have their own facilities along the Ingraham Trail.

Due to safety reasons, as I have said, we have piloted this project to try to get these people off the highway. We have worked closely with my other department of Infrastructure to get the pole-off out there at Prelude Lake to open up other opportunities for operators. I have said in this House a number of times that we are victims of our own success for the number of people who are coming here. We have to continue to work with all operators no matter what their stature is and the customers that they have, high-end or low-end, and continue to make sure it is a safe environment for everybody. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I certainly appreciate the Minister sharing that insight. I know that highway safety was one of the major concerns. I have brought highway safety to the Minister's attention a number of times in a variety of forms, not just tourists. The primary, let's call it, concern with tourists on the highway wasn't necessarily the operators per se, because the operators were experienced enough and have been experienced enough to go to day-use areas and pull off on the highway. They would go to our existing parks like Yellowknife River, Madeline Lake, or Pontoon, that sort of thing.

The safety concern was individual tourists who would rent cars and drive down the highway and park right on the highway. That would suggest to me that maybe we need better communications in the rental vehicles and maybe better signage along the highway that indicates that you can't park on the highway. I am not trying to discourage the Minister in his previous comments with regard to safety on the highway. We all take it very seriously.

I would almost look at this as an opportunity to motivate some of the tour operators to reach out to our Department of Lands and give some consideration to looking at some leases, not recreational, but commercial leases, because we are still issuing commercial leases. Even though the land-use planning is kind of in a holding pattern, we are still issuing commercial leases, according to the Minister of Lands. Maybe not recreational ones, but commercial ones, we are. That would then only be, again, a bit of a monthly rate. It wouldn't necessarily be something overly expensive. It would be the beginning of them making a longer-term commitment and investment to the territory.

The concern is that some of these older operators do have significant investment in assets and in land and in buildings and having to get insurance and protect their liabilities, et cetera. Now, it is being seen by them, and even others, that the government, through taxpayer subsidy, is letting tour operators, sometimes not even Northern tour operators, use our territorial parks as a base to run their operations at a very low rate.

I just continue to share that concern. I know we are committed to the pilot project, but I would really like the government to pay attention to these concerns. Please continue to monitor, of course, the program and how well it might be doing, and measure it in a way so that, in next year's business plans, we can report back accordingly. That is it. That is all I have with regard to that particular aspect.

I am going to move on just for a moment. One of the other concerns, and I raised it briefly in my Member's statement the other day, was a good problem to have, the ever-growing number of tour operators who are applying for permits here in the North year over year. What is the department's sense on the rate at which this growth is taking place? Is there any reason to be concerned or alarmed at this point in terms of how many tour operators in this region are starting to move into the market? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Ms. St-Denis.

Thank you, Ms. St-Denis. Mr. Vanthuyne.

All right. That is kind of good news to hear because then what that tells me is: when I physically see growth happening, then it is a lot of the current licence holders who are actually expanding their businesses, which is a positive. I know NWT Tourism already does good work in this area. I am going to probably touch on this in a moment. Would there ever come a time where we have a number in mind that we might have to put a cap on the North Slave region and look at trying to promote getting, in particular, aurora tourism operators out into some of the other regions so that the benefits of this growth can be had by some of the other outlying regions?

I just want to quickly share one story, because I know I am limited on time here. The Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment held our strategic planning meetings up in Norman Wells this summer, and every second person that I ran into asked me, "How can we get our hands on some of that Yellowknife tourism boom that is going on?" That is why I raise the question. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Ms. St-Denis.

Thank you, Ms. St-Denis. Next on the list, we have Mr. McNeely.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Related to this activity, on the tourism side, as mentioned in my statement earlier today, it is a vibrant sector doing quite well, supported by various programs and marketing with the department. I compliment the department for their various initiatives and attendances. Looking at the Minister's opening remarks, on the second page, there was a note toward advancing the federal transfer of the proposed Doi T'oh Park. I know that there is a committee in place. I will respect the committee, which is represented by the Tulita District Land Corporation, and they have held a number of meetings.

My only question on this is: knowing that the second summer of cleanup activity is coming up from an RFP that was issued here a couple of years ago, after this last upcoming summer, is there going to be an audit done between the stakeholders for the Doi T'oh Park as part of the statement on advancing work towards the federal transfer? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. McNeely. Ms. St-Denis.