Thank you, Madam Chair. And I see an opportunity there, I guess, for Indigenous people, especially when you're looking at, you know, whether it's, you know, berries or whatever it is that's grown naturally or in the Northwest Territories, and like I say walking tours and that. So, you know, there's a real opportunity I think there. But just, I was just trying to get a sense on the, you know, run of the mill of agriculture that is, you know, that we see from the south that's moved into the North, that's all. So more of a -- just a comment. But I'll just go on here.

The other thing that we don't seem to talk about much is the new initiatives as well for tourism. Like, we have some, you know, beautiful places around here. Like, Hay River, you know, we've got Louise Falls; we've got Alexander Falls; you know, we've got the lake and all that. You know, and I look at it, and I -- you know, when I go down there I'm thinking, you know, what could we do different here? And then I talk to some of the people that work in the department and that and, you know, one thing we should be looking at is expanding what we have and, like, for, you know, around Enterprise there, the falls is, you know, a walking bridge or something like that. Is that something that the department is looking at, new initiatives to expand what we have for tourism into, you know -- you go to the falls and you're kind of -- you're concentrated in one spot but you may be able to get over top of it, you know, and things like that. I know there might be a little bit of a liability issue there but, you know, we got to throw those type of ideas out there. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of ITI.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, happy -- I mean, the ideas, I couldn't agree more with. Happy to have the ideas. Exactly who the champion might be and then connecting the champions to the funding is, I suppose, the more challenging side. That said, I would note that there is now funding for interpretive programming within parks, which is new. That is an asset I have heard here. And there's now $50,000 per year proposed to support interpretive programming which hopefully would -- I mean, I'd love to see that be fully expended this year. It certainly would give that value-add about the distinctness of each culture and region. So, you know, I'm happy to give that a little plug and a little nudge and I'd be happy to also see that it gets fully utilized. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. One other area here is -- you know, where I can see expansion is the border there to Highway No. 1. You know, again, we got beautiful, you know, booth there -- or building there for tourists and we've got places for people to stay. But I think that could be expanded. But the issue there is that it comes down to power. And right now we're generating power either with diesel generators or sometimes with other sources. And we have Alberta -- we have power there going -- I'm not sure how far it goes into. If it goes to Indian Cabins or a little bit this side. And I would like, I guess, the department to take a look at the cost of possibly bringing that line into the territories to provide power to it, because we are spending a lot of money anyway, and see if it would make sense because we wouldn't be maintaining -- we wouldn't be having to maintain generators and, you know, worry about that. So it would just allow us maybe to expand the season a little bit around there and expand the services that we could provide to tourism. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of ITI.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And, Madam Chair, I've certainly not heard it proposed from within the department or with colleagues over at Infrastructure that Alberta Power can come up here in any sort of easy or cost-efficient basis. Certainly would love to be frankly wrong about that, Madam Chair. But there are efforts underway to move to renewables where possible, that some of the parks are seeing a move to having some small scale various renewable initiatives, particularly around solar. So again, I can perhaps get back to the Member with respect to what's happening. It's often an Infrastructure/ITI joint initiative and often under the small cap side of the capital budget. So, you know, not to say that it gets lost in the small cap budget, Madam Chair, but there's a long list of items there and they may not all get the attention that they deserve for the fact that they are actually providing power alternatives at the parks which does have a significant impact -- trickling effect on other things like tourism. So let me get -- I can highlight a few of those initiatives. I just don't have the capital budget, small cap, projects in front of me. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Member for Hay River South.

That's all. Thank you.

Are there any further questions? All right, so please turn to page 238, Industry, Tourism and Investment, tourism and parks, operations expenditure summary, 2023-2024 Main Estimates, $16,795,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you. There are additional information items on page 242 to 246. Are there any questions on those? Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Madam Chairman. Anyways, I'm just thinking about the business incentive policies. In the early days when I was the local housing authority manager in the community in N'dilo, we managed all our housing in our community. We had a block funding agreement with the housing corporation where we agreed to build X amount of units in our community. But we had to follow the business incentive policy which means that we had to buy all cabinets from the North, all the windows from the North, all the screw jacks from the North, all the trusses from the North, etcetera. But what's happening now is that, you know, the chief in Fort Resolution made it very clear that they don't want no trailers in the community and yet we know here we are, we're bringing trailers into the community, taking away employment from our people in the communities. And so I'm not really sure in this going forward, your policy, the business incentive policy and working with the housing corporation, I'm not sure how they're going to really fix this problem. We know that high cost of living. We know the high cost of building. We know the high cost of materials in the south and the labour in the North etcetera is high. And so I remember in the early days where we had the business incentive policy, they kind of frown -- they didn't really like the idea that we were to use -- buy trailers from the south. And they promote it in the business incentive policy. But yet now we got these trailers that are being purchased from down south with no real benefit to northern BIP suppliers. So I'm not sure how your department is managing that. Can you maybe talk about that a little bit so it's a little bit more clear as to how you're going to deal with this BIP policy on the Industry, Tourism and Investment? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of ITI.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So there is a procurement review underway, still right now, that was begun some time ago and a fairly detailed set of recommendations received some time ago. It is now at a stage where there are a number of changes that have been made and some more changes coming forward to the public side of the procurement work that the government is doing. Things, for example, around just clarifying, you know, how bids are being received, trying to ensure that it's more -- that, you know, venders are being monitored for ensuring that they actually follow through with whatever their commitments are. And there's a lot of work happening, particularly through EIA with respect to Indigenous procurement and what Indigenous procurement policy might look like. With respect to the business incentive policy, there's a need to better understand the definition of a "business," of a northern business and of a northern Indigenous business, and that work is actively underway right now to be done in the life of this government. So there's quite a number of things happening.

Specific issues with respect to whether or not to choose a trailer or not a trailer, I'm not familiar with, but I'd be happy to receive the details of that and then could then provide a more detailed and specific response to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So going forward, I guess, I'm just thinking that as claims get done in the North and Indigenous governments want greater control on managing the housing situation in their communities, I guess would your department -- or are they going to start looking at how they're going to start working with Indigenous governments to fulfilling some of these roles through either agreements that they have either through a block funding agreement or contribution agreements? So sooner or later, this government here has to start recognizing that we are going to have settled claims. And right now in committee that I've been involved, none of the departments are -- have the foresight to say that in four years or eight years we're going to have these agreements. We're -- what's happening in committees that they're just going ahead status quo without recognizing that the claims are going to be there. So going forward, do you guys have a vision in how you're going to work with Indigenous governments to look at how we're going to start transferring some of these responsibilities through decentralization? Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister of ITI.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So, you know, obviously, Madam Chair, my comments have to be limited to within the scope of what the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment can speak to. EIA is coming next so, you know, heads up to my colleagues who are going to be sitting here shortly. But with respect to what the Department of ITI can do, you know, I can speak, Madam Chair, to the work we've already done with the Intergovernmental Council and more on the development of the Mineral Resources Act regulations. But ITI has been the lead department to enact and to put forward and to work with the Intergovernmental Council at the secretariat level, in particular to really co-develop and what is happening with the Mineral Resource Act regulations. And that process is one that has been very intensive. We've been figuring out and understanding how it will look as its evolved. And, you know, I think that's -- if I was to point to one thing that speaks to how the Northwest Territories is going to have to evolve the way we govern and do our governance, both as a public government and then vis-a-vie Indigenous governments and modern treaty holders, that is a process that, again having now seen and unfold, provides some very, I think, exciting lessons for how things can be done differently. The other one I'd point back to is the procurement review where, again, we've been trying to do that not only as a government led/government run but as one that is inclusive. It takes a little longer to have a more inclusive conversation but the product at the end is hopefully better. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Any further questions? Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Madam Chair, I note that she touched on the Minerals Act. Right now it's also under review to my understanding. But it's also a concern that was also brought to my attention by a member from my community that, you know, there should still be more Aboriginal and Indigenous engagement on this Act, but right now it's -- what's happening is that they're working behind the scenes it seems like with industry, etcetera. Is it your hope to start working with Indigenous governments and then Denedeh Diamond Corporation, I guess they changed their name now, but in terms of getting some feedback on what the views are of the Aboriginal people on the amendments of the Mineral Act? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister of ITI.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the Intergovernmental Council has been a co-development partner of the Mineral Resources Act regulations. They have sat at the table hand-in-hand with ITI in terms of getting to where we are at this point. And notwithstanding, I know perhaps not the view of every Member in this House, the industry partners out there are often quite critical of the fact that they feel that they haven't had the opportunity to have as much input as they want. So it seems like you can't always make everybody happy. But in this case, we have taken the legislative protocol that was brand new and put that into motion and put that into action, and there's a now codeveloped process through which the modern Mineral Resources Act regulations are ones that have had the Indigenous governments and modern treaty holders, as well as Council of Leaders, but IGC in particular, have been hand-in-hand in developing what that's going to look like and helping us to drive what the policy terms would be before getting to a point of actually drafting those regs. So it's been a very different process. It's been very unique anywhere in Canada. I do think it's going to produce something that we as Canadians can be proud of and as Northerners can be proud of. And I certainly -- you know, again, the process isn't over by any means. The process is still underway. But it is one that has really enacted that legislative protocol as being something unique and different. So if there are Indigenous governments who, for some reason are not happy with the IGCS process, I mean that's probably a question for EIA. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Did you have any further questions under the section? Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.