Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. As the Member expresses that opinion, I can see on the faces of other Members that they maybe do not share that opinion. I think this is a much more complex situation than at this moment in time. "Gas is not looking good, so therefore we'll just throw it out the window." I would caution that that is not quite prudent or responsible of our government to do so. There is a lot of interest in LNG in the Beaufort-Delta.

Perhaps, if the Member is not aware of that, then I am lacking in communicating and educating the Member on what that department is doing up in the Beaufort-Delta. I commit to going be back to the Member and providing him with a briefing on our oil and petroleum sectors. We don't split them out. These are people and staff in an office that do both, and they work in many sort of facets, so, no, there is no hard separation between mineral and petroleum. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I get there is a bit of a politicization of oil and gas. My concern is that the strategy is based on one market reality that has significantly changed. Perhaps I will try again. Can I get a sense of whether we have specific positions and how many work on petroleum versus minerals? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, I think it is trying to separate out something that is actually a little bit more complex than just this or that. How about I commit to coming back to the Member with a response to that question? Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would appreciate it. Perhaps, going forward, it's a corporate restructuring thing. Every time I am talking about mineral economy versus petroleum, they are not in one department, in one section, in one line item, because they are obviously very different conversations. If they are wrapped up in this $5 million, I would like to know what's going to the mining versus what's going to the petroleum. I would appreciate that response.

My other question is: I really support the work that the NWT geological survey does. It's really the backbone. Some of the permafrost work is great. A lot of that science data has applications well beyond mining. It's used all over the world. It's really great data they use and produce. I am concerned to see a $1.1 million decrease in their budget. Can the Minister explain that decrease to me?

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We have had an increase, actually, of -- sorry, I'm getting my accounting stuff done, end of the day here, tired. We had a sunset on the Slave geological province exploration development of $1.2 million. That's the biggest chunk there. We did see a small increase for the salary, the collective bargaining. Generally, it's the airborne geophysical survey finishing. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. We are going to take a break, and we will resume by 6:30. Thank you.

---SHORT RECESS

All right, committee. We are going to call committee back to order, and we are going to continue on where we left off, ITI, mineral and petroleum resources. We are going to the Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I understand that the department contracted with PricewaterhouseCoopers for $300,000 to do a review of the NWT royalty regime for mining. I think it might have been a broader review. I think phase 1 was to be completed in fall of 2019. Is there a report done, and, if so, can we get a copy? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, there was a report that was done. It was a benchmarking report that did not contain any recommendations. I just want to preface that. We are putting it through our deputy ministers and Cabinet, and then, afterwards, we will bring it to AOC to share. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Any idea when that is going to be available? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't have a time frame at this time, but I do commit to making that a timely response to the Member. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Okay. It's got to go through some deputy ministers' committee and up to Cabinet. If the work's done, I don't know why we can't be given it in confidence now, especially if there are no recommendations. Is it like two, three months down the road, two years down the road? When does the Minister expect to be able to make this report available to Regular MLAs? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We'll have that report to you within the next four to six weeks. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member.