Thank you. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Chair. First, I just want to comment that the Minister's description of what this section has done was excellent, and I couldn't have said it better myself. I just wanted to start off by saying that. I think, perhaps, the Minister actually just has a semantics problem, and if she takes the word "petroleum" out of the title of this section, she should no longer have the problems. I am actually really excited to see the funding in this area because this is science. This is the scientists. As well, I've had the opportunity to spend time in the Inuvik office and see what they do and how much they contribute back into the community, including running the daycare centre in Inuvik; I think he's the board member. I just want to say I think that, perhaps, just looking at renaming might be the way to go.

When I look at this, I would actually like to know if there is going to be, at any point, an increase in funding for the geologic survey. I'm worried that, as we lock down the borders, et cetera, we're losing an opportunity for us to continue on with our research, with our scientific side, with keeping up at the forefront or forerunner of the permafrost sciences, et cetera. A lot of our work or our research depends on universities external to the Northwest Territories, including external to Canada, as I mentioned in my statement, so maybe the Minister could speak to the fact that we do see -- oh, God, I have to do math here -- a $1.7 million drop there from the actuals of 2019. Maybe if the Minister could comment on that, that would be great. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think the change in actuals and the decrease there in the actuals was reflective of the fact that there was a sunset on the Slave Geologic Province exploration funding, but more generally speaking, there is a lot of leveraging that does go on with universities and a lot of contribution agreements that go through the Northwest Territories Geological Survey so that they can, indeed, leverage opportunities with universities. I am certainly happy to take away the idea of doing more. I also agree that this is an area that has, I think, tremendous growth potential in the Northwest Territories, given the unique nature of what we have here in the North in terms of geology, geoscience, geophysics. There is not an increase in this year's budget. Again, recognizing the comments, and I appreciate those. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. Again, I would like to make a comment around, during my time as a Minister, I was actually very involved in many conversations around oil and gas and petroleum, LNG, et cetera, in the Beaufort-Delta, not only with businesses but also with Indigenous governments and local governments. I do think there is a lot of interest up in the Beaufort-Delta. I would be supportive of, actually, an increase to funding in the research area. There is a lot of interest in the shipping route from the Beaufort-Delta into Asia. It would be shorter than other sources of oil and LNG and such around the world. I'm probably not getting my science right at the moment because I am extremely tired. I just did want to say that I believe there is a lot of interest in oil and gas, and I do fully support that.

My next question is around the Chamber of Mines. While the Chamber of Mines does not have the core funding and they have been a strong advocate for the Northwest Territories, I am concerned, as well, there that their main source of revenue has always been the geoscience forum. While everybody may want to say that going virtual is great, a lot of times now, people are having to offer their virtual conferences or symposiums for free online, like NAPEG is doing next week, if you're interested. I think that the Chamber of Mines is going to continue to see hard times over the next while as we continue to stay locked down. Can the Minister speak to maybe how she is going to address some of that concern? Again, I'm really worried that the loss of exploration, the loss of our mineral sector at this point, will lead to a massive economic slump down the line, as mining is responsible for 40 percent of our GDP. We need to remember that, and we don't build mines overnight. We need at least 10 years out, and we need 10 metal mines to make up one diamond mine. While I am sitting here preaching and doing the department's work a little bit, I feel strongly and am making a statement now that I do not agree that there is no oil and gas interest in the Northwest Territories. I believe the path forward for our territory is through green energy minerals. I only support this. If you want more money, come to me, and I'll help you figure out how we get it. Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Madam Chair, I don't know that I want to take away from much that was said. I am inclined to let it stand as a comment. The one issue there, Madam Chair, that I am hearing is around support for the Chamber of Mines. They are project-funded, and one of the major projects that they are funded for is, indeed, the Geosciences Forum, which is a headline feature event for the mineral resources sector in the North and had to go online this year, which certainly does not bring in the same sorts of revenue. Let me just direct it to Deputy Minister Strand to speak to what that may have done, if anything at all. To the extent that we can speak for the Chamber of Mines, she might be able to speak to what that did to the project funding that we do put towards that project, please.

Deputy Minister.

Thank you, Deputy Minister. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. I think that's all great, and while it's going to be painful for the next little while, while things are only virtual, I actually see this in the long run as opening up the Northwest Territories and access to international access. As my colleague from Kam Lake was saying earlier on, in the long run, we'll actually probably have more people participating in our forums when we can return to a normal sort of open venue. Just one last comment. Again, back to science, I like science; I like facts; and I want to invest more in this area because, just because you say something a lot, that doesn't make it true. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. I'll take that as a comment. Are there any further questions under mineral and petroleum resources? Seeing none, please turn to page 215. Industry, Tourism and Investment, minerals and petroleum resources, operations expenditure summary, 2021-2022 Main Estimates, $16,346,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you. We will now turn to tourism and parks, beginning on page 218, with information items up to 221. Any questions? Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I also really like tourism and parks, as well, so I am very supportive of this area, too. I'm looking very forward to the day on which I can also travel again. At times, when I've driven down the highway, like I said, it feels like you just want to keep going, right? No, putting joking aside, I'm looking at the Growth and Recovery by Investing in Tourism Fund. I've been hearing from a lot of constituents, or just people who had connections from before, regarding their concern about the borders not reopening, obviously, this summer like they had anticipated and, therefore, not seeing a tourism season in the upcoming summer. I know the Minister has already spoken, it's been a long day, that there is a lot of conversation with the federal government, but I just would like her to maybe speak a little bit further to whether or not that fund is going to actually maybe be renewed or replaced. How much are we really going to see in relief funding for our operators? Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. Tourism certainly is quite dear to my heart, and I continue to hear about the impacts of COVID-19, specifically the border restrictions on this sector. Madam Chair, it was my goal to have something sort of a little more concrete to be able to get back to Members and out to the public during the course of this session. We still have a few weeks left, so my goal is not quite over yet. We are working quite diligently, I would say, right now, to make sure that whatever programs are put in place for the 2021-2022 year continue to do what we did in 2020-2021, which was to really identify areas that need to be supported from the federal programs or that can be complemented by federal programs or where there are gaps to be filled. We are still waiting to know what the final word might be from the federal government. That is a significant source of money, and it makes sense to me to not compete with it but to use it to its best advantage. Again, we are expecting to have some information back fairly soon from them and are working in the meanwhile to be ready to drop our own plans in conjunction with that, based on that estimation. I know that is not a lot of specifics, Madam Chair. I am trying to give as much as I can with where we are at, but I very much want this to be a planned approach and not just sort of bits here and there. That is why I am holding back a little bit on where I can go. I will certainly commit to getting the plan out. I just do not know when that is going to be. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member.

Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. That is good to hear, and I am hoping, like before, we are seeing things that are special to us as the territories versus having to be in the same realm as Quebec and Ontario with their over-the-top tourism sectors versus ours. I just wanted to talk to you quickly about the tourism infrastructure fund. Last year, that was a great idea for keeping some small projects going into small communities, employing local businesses, building I think it was kitchen shelters, picnic tables, and such. I note that there is no increase to that over the actuals from either of the last two years, so I am just curious to know: would the department consider actually investing more there, given that again we are not going to see the opening of the borders this summer? To me, again, this seems like a great way we can keep small northern businesses working, keep people employed outside of the centres, and I would be supportive to seeing more money being put in and maybe looking at, if an area or a park does not have a kitchen shelter in a community, looking at that. As my colleague has brought up, what is Whati going to get in preparation for their road, this being the last year of the ice road? Yes. Maybe the Minister could comment a little bit around that. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Right now, obviously, the tourism infrastructure fund still sits at $200,000. It certainly has been oversubscribed, I think, in this last year, and efforts have been undertaken to, as I said earlier, move travel money and reallocating that to the areas that are in need, such as this one and such as some of the tourism products that have rolled out, whether GRIT or otherwise. The short answer is yes, but the longer answer is that it's coming in one project at a time right now. Right now, we are still closing out the end of this fiscal year and trying to utilize all of the different programs and funds that were designed and were set up for this fiscal year and then determine where we can go in the next year. The short answer is yes. It has been a good program. It has had good uptake, and ultimately, the goal and the vision are to position communities and tourism operators when there is a full reopening or partial reopening. That certainly does fit within that vision. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would totally support, when this comes back to us, that that money is actually moved over into this area, out of the travel budget, ahead of us all voting on it, but I will leave that as more of a comment. We can't get out of this area without talking about outhouses, so I am going to ask the Minister about the outhouses up in the Beaufort-Delta, which I heard a lot about being shot up and not in such great condition. I know that there has been conversation around the replacement of these. I do want to urge the Minister to actually start looking into the revolutions in outhouse technology in the last while and the fact that maybe we could be subcontracting these outhouses to self-contained units that could be hosed down, et cetera, to a company. Maybe that is a business development opportunity, to create a contract. I feel that, if we have a contract in place where those, I am forgetting now, but I believe it's contracted out to the parks, but I am not 100 percent sure, and I should know that. Something along that line, where it's a heated outhouse, that type of thing. However, if not, if you are not going to replace those Beaufort-Delta outhouses, will you be providing operations and maintenance funding for them in the upcoming year? Thank you.