Mahsi, committee. Does committee agree that this concludes our consideration of Bill 57, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2022?

Mahsi, committee. We have concluded consideration of Bill 57, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2022. Mahsi, Minister, and mahsi to your witness. Sergeant-at-arms, please escort the witness from the Chamber. Mahsi.

Committee, we have agreed to consider Tabled Document 813-19(2), 2023-2024 Main Estimates. We will now consider Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Does the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment have any opening marks?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to present the 2023-2024 Main Estimates for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, or ITI. Overall, the department's estimates propose an increase of $1.9 million or 3.1 percent over the 2022-2023 Main Estimates. These estimates support the mandate objectives for the Department of ITI while continuing to meet the Government of the Northwest Territories fiscal objectives to prioritize responsible and strategic spending.

Highlights of the proposed estimates include:

• initiative funding totalling $1.40 million, which includes:
• $324,000 to continue our support of the tourism sector under Tourism 2025 towards the five-year investment strategy for the tourism sector;
• $280,000 under the Mineral Development Strategy focused on a Resource and Energy Development Information, or REDI, program designed to improve awareness, understanding, and participation in the Northwest Territories natural resource regulatory system, promotion and marketing; and prospector training, to deliver in-person and virtual introduction to prospecting courses to residents across the Northwest Territories;
• $250,000 to support the development and implementation of regional tourism marketing initiatives;
• $200,000 to increase funding for our Mining Incentive Program to stimulate prospecting and exploration, and increase resource exploration and development in our territory in line with our mandate commitment; and
• $200,000 to continue our support for the growth of film and media sector and increasing the competitiveness of the Northwest Territories NWT generate benefits to the Northwest Territories economy.
• Forced growth funding totalling $169,000, which includes:
• $70,000 to increase contributions to the Northwest Territories tourism to address the rising fixed costs due to inflation and provide stability as the tourism industry returns to pre-COVID levels; and
• $35,000 in funding for the Community Transfer Initiatives Program and $18,000 in funding for the NWT Community Futures Program which are economic development initiatives designed to support business and economic capacity building in the Northwest Territories.
• A change in accounting treatment of $732,000 for the Canadian Agricultural Partnership Program, or CAP, stemming from the review of the Office of the Auditor General that indicated that CAP should be reported as a cost-shared agreement and funding should be classified and reported in Fund 1 operation expenses;
• Other adjustments of $383,000, comprising of $323,000 for secondment program funding, $50,000 for assessing the Northwest Territories Geological Materials for Cement Production, and $10,000 for French language communications and services; offset by a reduction to the contract services budget of $211,000 and $58,000 funding transfer for the office lease cost in Hay River to the Department of Infrastructure; and finally
• Sunsets of $884,000.

These estimates continue to support the priorities of the 19th Legislative Assembly and vision of Budget 2023, notably by the following:

• A regional approach to service delivery, where many of the department's programs are delivered in partnership with community organizations to support regional decision-making and increasing employment in small communities;
• Focusing on economic diversification by supporting growth in a variety of our sectors and continuing engagement with Indigenous governments, regional and industry leaders, and community members across the territory, on establishing regional economic development plans to increase awareness of economic opportunities;
• Supporting the re-emergence of the tourism sector through the endemic phase of COVID-19;
• Planning to take advantage of Northwest Territories critical minerals to improve mineral security, strengthening the competitiveness of the critical mineral industry, and support the development of secure and reliable supply chains;
• Advance the development of the Mineral Resources Act regulations in collaboration with the Intergovernmental Council, including modernizing the Northwest Territories approach to royalties and socio-economic agreements and to support adopting a benefit retention approach to economic development; and last,
• Finalizing construction and opening of the Hay River fish plant, negotiating a new agreement with the federal government for support for northern agriculture, and collaboration with the Ministers of Health and Social Services, Environment and Natural Resources, and Executive and Indigenous Affairs, to support increasing food security through locally produced, harvested, and affordable food.

That concludes my opening remarks. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Does the Minister wish to bring witnesses into the House?

Yes, I do, Mr. Chair.

Sergeant-at-arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber.

Could the Minister please introduce her witnesses.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, on my left I have the deputy minister Pamela Strand. And on my right, Nina Salvador, who is the director of finance for the department.

Committee has agreed to forego general comments. Does committee agree to proceed to the detail contained in the tabled document?

Committee, we will defer the departmental summary and review the estimates by activity summary beginning with corporate management, starting on page 226, with information item on 227. And I open the floor up for questions. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So I'm going to ask a question here about contributions to NGOs and partly because finance and administration is found in this particular activity. So I know that the Minister, wearing a different hat, talked in the budget address about increasing NGO contributions by 2.2 percent I think across the board. Are there any NGOs that ITI funds that did not receive this 2.2 percent increase? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the call that went out to departments was under the forced growth process of business planning, and it was so that those NGOs or non-profits across the Northwest Territories that provide services on behalf of government could now see increases to their budgets given that they are, you know, filling in where public servants would have to step in and provide those services in the alternative. And in that regard, the departments -- or I'm sorry, the organizations on behalf of ITI, who perform those types of functions, include the community futures organizations as well as Northwest Territories Tourism. I don't believe there were any others that we felt met that definition of providing services on behalf of government. So there were no others that we applied that definition to. Thank you.

Mahsi for that. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. And thanks for that response. So I take it then that if you're not community futures, community transfer initiative -- well, you know, I don't want to -- you know what, maybe I'll just wait until we get to some of the other activities to raise this again to find out who got the increase, who didn't get it. Yeah, I think I'll just do that. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Mahsi, Mr. O'Reilly. Ms. Nokleby.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My question is just that there seems to be a trend of under spending in this area, and I'm just wondering if the Minister or the department can explain why that is and if that is the case, then do they need to maybe start thinking of changing how they're doing the budgeting then if they're not spending here? Thank you.

Mahsi. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I presume there's sort of -- there may be a look here at what's happening with some of the actuals. I would just note 2021-2022 was still a COVID year where we would have had a lot of COVID relief funding coming through the department. So while I don't want to presume exactly which line item might be at issue, that is a fairly reasonable chance that that's going to be the situation. One other -- sorry, Mr. Chair, there may be one other explanation available, which is to say that there were some changes in the TSC charge back approach and so there was some under spend in that regard but, again, that can depend on the number of positions, how many of them may be filled and, you know, again with COVID, not necessarily seeing a normal year in terms of who was in our out of the office or relying on their TSC charge back amounts. Thank you.

Mahsi. Ms. Nokleby.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm good.

Any further questions on this section? Seeing no further questions. Industry, Tourism and Investment, corporation management, operations expenditure summary, $9,253,000. Does committee agree?