Thank you. Did the Minister of ITI have anything to follow up with those comments?

Madam Chair, only to reiterate that, you know, this is where the importance of having something like regional mineral development strategies, land use plans, you know, opportunities with CSCR, our client services folks; connecting the businesses that have already have interests in the region across Northwest Territories to the communities and the governments, community governments and regional governments. That is likely to be, as I think it has been said to today, the way of the future and a way that is -- you know, puts us on the map internationally in terms of investor interest and investor confidence. So those are the kinds of approaches that we take to developing, you know, any industry but particularly an industry such as this one that has such international interest and has, frankly, such high costs associated that we're going to need that external investment. So I do appreciate the comments and the discussion here. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Did you have anything further, Member for Hay River South?

Well, maybe another question. Maybe an actual question.

You know, when I think of the oil and gas in the southern part of the territories, you know, we talk about Cameron Hills and we talk about the Fort Liard play there, and has there been -- you know, has there been any discussions with respect to Cameron Hills? Except for the sale of the company and cleanup of the lands, has there been any interest there? And also with Fort Liard, there was a lot of oil and gas activity in that area at one point, and I'm not sure if -- if anybody has shown an interest to go back in there. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of ITI.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, so Cameron Hills is still a Lands lead on that one. I don't have the latest details right in front of me. So could certainly check back with my colleague and see if there's an update that we can provide.

With respect to more generally, though, I -- put a bit of a plug in for the NTGS, Northwest Territories Geological Survey. They have a lot of research done. They have the knowledge of what's out across the Northwest Territories in whatever types of natural resources one might be looking at and get a lot of hits internationally but, you know, can't -- certainly we would want to take any opportunity to say that that's a source of data and information that can be used and would hope that it would be used. So, you know, look as we're opening up and, you know, travelling again and having the opportunity for conferences again. This is part of why there still needs to be that direct contact to promote the fact that we have data and information, we're here, and that that can, you know, start to get people's interests flowing. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any further questions under mineral and petroleum resources? Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you. It's more just a comment I guess to support my colleagues as well, that the importance of the NWT economy is front and center here today. And, you know, it's been said that the future really looks bleak in the Northwest Territories with our budget that we have of $2.2 billion, $1.6 billion in the hole, and $1.8 billion is the debt wall. With the population going down here in the Northwest Territories, the mining industry is -- are winding down and so we got to look at new ways to really move towards improving the economy here in the Northwest Territories in the short order. But before we could even do that, you know, we got to -- you know, industry is looking for certainty in terms of coming North and to really develop the Northwest Territories. But we got to get the land claims settled, you know, in all the regions of the Northwest Territories. And I think that's something that we really need to take a look at and really try and get those things out of the way.

You know, I -- I chaired the Mackenzie Valley Impact Review Board on year five of the five-year review of the Mackenzie gas project. That project there, it was -- it was a big project. And at the end, they -- they -- Imperial Oil decided not to go forward with it. But, you know, that whole corridor there, you know, there's -- there's -- you know, you can really take a look at the, you know, the new pipeline. You could take a look at highway. You know, you could take a look and put all what we can down in that corridor. If we ever had to go through another EA process, that process would be a lot shorter because that whole area's already been dealt with and talked about and etcetera. So I think it's important that, you know, this government at this point right now, you know, we're going to be hitting that debt wall probably next year or year after. And we really need to think about how we're going to do business in the North now. And the economy is front and center. And I think that it's something that we can't turn away from.

And I know that when we talk about looking at how we can work with the exploration, and I know there's limited amount of monies there to really advance some of these areas compared to the Yukon, and the Yukon is spending millions of dollars in helping young companies to come into the Yukon, etcetera. And so I'm not sure if ITI is able to take a look at this area so that we can really look at advancing some of these areas and mineral developments in the Northwest Territories.

But I just want to -- want to say that to support my colleagues that this is a -- something that we -- we really need to support, and also get the land claims done. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. I didn't hear any questions but, Minister, did you have anything to respond?

Sure, Madam Chair. Thank you. Yes, I'm happy that -- you know, thrilled to hear that kind of line of comment. Not that it's new or surprising, but it needs to be said and resaid. But I would say that there is hope here. I mean this is, I think -- I've, in the budget session, spend maybe a bit more of my time speaking about budget and finance and sometimes that can seem a little bit more daunting, but Madam Chair, sometimes when I sit over in this -- with this hat on, there's actually quite a lot of energy and potential in the North. There's a lot of interest across the three territories in how to, all of us, see increase in exploration. There's a real feeling that that -- the future of Canada can see -- see itself in the North. And, you know, you start to look at something like Mackenzie Valley or the Slave Geologic Province, and those are nation building. And the reason you say nation building is because those are opportunities that will not only have impacts for the residents and communities in the Northwest Territories but would have potential impacts for all of Canada and could bring people, then, to the North, to bring them to the North for these opportunities. And so, you know, I -- I don't think the future is bleak. I actually think there's a lot of potential. But we do have work we have to get done, whether it's in programs like MIP, which provides the incentives for exploration companies; whether it's in a mining exploration credit, which has been something that the federal government, CanNor was actually saying is an idea that we should be looking at. So there's a lot of things that can be done. And then we just look at the potential we have. The critical minerals and metals and what that's doing internationally and here we could be the next -- the next big place for a lot of those -- or what's happening on commodities like diamond and gold where prices are going up. But, you know what, they're -- as -- those are the kinds of companies where they want to be associated to good environmental social factors. Well, look at how we do business in the North. This is where business is done differently.

So there's a lot of really good stories here in the Northwest Territories. We do need to get them out. There are challenges. There's high costs. But there are programs in the work. There's efforts in the work to try to mitigate those costs or to outweigh them with other positive benefits such as, you know, showing what kind of governance factors we have here in the Northwest Territories and the relationships with Indigenous governments. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Any further questions? Are there any further questions from Members under minerals and petroleum resources?

Seeing none, Industry, Tourism and Investment, minerals and petroleum resources, operations expenditure summary, 2022-2023 Main Estimates, $16,186,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you. We will now turn to page 202, 221, industry -- or sorry, Industry, Tourism and Investment, tourism and parks. That has information on 222 and 223 and 224 for that section. So up to 224. Questions for tourism and parks? Seeing none? Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Over the last two years, we -- I think we found that a lot of people in the Northwest Territories started to use -- or used our parks, and I think that it was an eye-opener for a lot of them. I know it was for Ms. Cleveland who just loved Hay River, her kids loved Hay River. And, you know, when I look at the number of parks and the number of areas that we have, you know, it is somewhat limited, and I think we're going to probably see more people, you know, come this way and stay closer to home, stay closer -- and stay in Canada. So I'd like to know if the department is -- is considering or looking at maybe opening -- or identifying some areas and opening new -- new areas to set up parks? Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister of ITI.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So Madam Chair, the next new park is the North Arm Park, as you might recall, in the Tlicho region, which is a capital project that is coming in under the Tlicho infrastructure cooperation agreement. I don't know exactly what year it's going -- it's all online. That work's underway but that is -- that is the next new park that's coming out, Madam Chair. Thanks.

Thank you, Madam Chair. One item I'm looking at here, tourism skills development, and it's to do with contributions to support youth mentorship, and community tourism coordinators, $50,000. You know, I look at that program and I think that it's a worthwhile program. $50,000 probably isn't enough because I think something like that could be rolled out into probably every community in the Northwest Territories. And I'd ask the Minister if -- if that's something that -- you know, if that program has worked or is it being pushed enough to make it work, because I think it's -- you know, with tourism, we're trying to, you know, bring tourists here. So we need more people. And you know, we need people from the Northwest Territories who have -- that know the history of the Northwest Territories and, you know, are storytellers and, you know, the -- to provide that support to youth mentorship is great. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of ITI.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So there has been some increases to the community tourism coordinator positions. I would suggest to turn that over to the deputy minister for some further detail on the uptake thus far. Thank you.

Thank you. Deputy minister Strand.