Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, one of the other things done under the umbrella of the fish revitalization strategy was work on marketing, was work on understanding the market for fish, and consistently it has come back that there indeed is a very strong market for freshwater fish and for the kind of product that's available here in the Northwest Territories, that it is a distinct and unique product. Geopolitically with Russia's invasion of Ukraine, that price only increased and the demand only increased. So we're at a moment in time here right now that we very much would like to be able to capitalize on the markets that we know are available and on the price that we know can be higher if it was a product that wasn't the kind of thing that comes out of the Freshwater Fish Market Corporation in Manitoba because they're not there to maximize price; they're there to provide stability of price, which is a different goal. We want to maximize the price.

Madam Chair, we certainly found that, yeah, there needs to be increased production here, but straight subsidies won't necessarily do that. Handing money -- you know, again, paying people to stay home doesn't increase production. Trying to support and incentivize is what we want to do to increase production. So we've had some conversations. I know I've just today received some details about ongoing conversations and engagements that are happening with fishers all around the lake to see what can be done to continue to encourage and incentivize people to get out and increase their production. Part of that is by having the higher prices. We need the higher -- we need to have the market -- or to have the plant open to get the higher prices. We are in a bit of a tough spot with this, again, trying do all of the things at the same time with -- within fiscal capacities where we're at. So getting the plant open, running, and moving the fish out of it is one major step forward. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, you know, I understand there's, you know, there a lot of work to be done. There's a lot of moving parts here. And, you know, we have -- we have the fish plant, which, you know, we need production. We need fishers out there who are really producing because we need to fill that plant. However, we don't have that right now. We have some fishers that are interested in -- you know, in taking their fish to the plant. We have others who are just interested in selling local -- and -- locally, and they get good money for that as well. So you know, when we talk about how much it's going to come off the lake and how much we're expecting the plant, well some of that's actually staying in the -- in the North already. It's sold privately. And, you know, then that's the other question that comes up. Is the plant going to compete against local producers who are -- or producers who are selling their product locally as well? So that -- you know, that could impact what they're bringing in. It impacts what the plant's going to be generating for revenue as well. So like I say, there's a lot of -- there's a lot of moving parts. And, you know, something that I guess I've always kind of wanted to see on this is that, you know, we have ITI, you know, talking with fishers, we have, you know, fishers maybe talking with me and talking with other people as well, we have Freshwater involved, we have the feds involved, but what I'd like to see is that -- and I have talked to Tu Cho before about that is to come up and have actually a conference for fishers. We haven't had one probably for 40 years.

Bring everybody to the table and everybody put what they have on the table, and come up with a plan that makes sense for the plant, for the fishers, and how do we, you know, entice more people to get into the market. So, you know, it would be nice to get a commitment from the Minister at some point that we could look at doing something like that. And this is kind of how this all started when we start talking about the plant, and that was probably about, you know, 30 years ago, you know, it was -- it was through a -- it was exactly through that just a one day conference and, you know, we moved -- and there's two things that came out of that. That was one to get the small craft harbour for Hay River and the other was to look at a plant. But the plant that we were looking at that time was only -- was probably in the range of, you know, three -- $3 million to $4 million. And then it just skyrocket from there. So it's just something for the Minister to think about. She doesn't have to tell me today that she commits to pushing a conference, but she can think about it. Thanks.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'm happy to think about that. Madam Chair, when I first took on the responsibility here about two and a half years ago, I don't disagree with the idea of trying to get all fishers into some kind of -- whether it's a, you know, forum or conference, but into a place where everyone's receiving the information about the fish industry and fish revitalization at the same time so there can hopefully be not any misunderstandings about what's happening, why it's happening, who's doing the training, who's available for the training, who's interested in having training, who's ready for having people on their boats. That has been a challenge. I have been struck at how difficult it can be to get all of the parts and all of the individuals interested in having a conversation like that. I think the Member points out that fishers really want to be out fishing. So look, I don't disagree, though, that we want to generate interest here for fishers. We want to generate interest in the product but also interest in people coming here. We're nowhere near hitting our quota. There's lots of room in this industry for anyone that's interested in this lifestyle. So all points well taken, Madam Chair, I guess is all I need to say. And I will take that back to ITI. Thank you.

Thank you. Anything further, Member for Hay River South?

Just one quick point, and it's not that difficult to get people in the room. All somebody has to do is say that they're going to make it happen, and that's what we did before. We just said this is going to happen and we got everybody in the room, and -- and something came of it. That's it. Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 2023-2024, Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, operations expenditures, economic diversification and business support, not previously authorized, $2,929,000. Does committee agree? Did you want -- Member for Monfwi.

Thank you. This to provide funding to enhance support for entrepreneur and economic development, that is a real good program because this -- for arts program, and that I know it's very important for many of our small communities because there's a lot of people in the small communities use this for economic development, and a lot of them are using arts program part of their healing, and it promotes culture, and then it's good for tourism as well. And when we met with the artists, I know a lot of them wanted -- the artists wanted to be independent. The art -- they wanted the art council to be independent. So that was expressed to us. And I just wanted to ask the Minister this number, 375, is that the number that was negotiated with the MLA?

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, that's correct.

(audio).

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It right now is -- if I'm -- it's allocated and designated for arts specifically under the SEED program, which is administered by ITI. I can't say that it's then further broken down as being for any particular region or community. I believe it is based on applications and, you know, again, I -- yes, I think it's application-based. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Anything further, Member for Monfwi.

No, no. That's okay because, yeah, I thought that was intention and I just wanted to find out if it was the same, that's the number that we negotiated. Yeah.

Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 2023-2024, Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, operations expenditures, economic diversification and business support, not previously authorized, $2,929,000. Does committee agree?

Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 2023-2024, Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, operations expenditures, total department, not previously authorized, $3,018,000. Does committee agree?

Turn to page 11. Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 2023-2024, Department of Infrastructure, operations expenditures, corporate management, not previously authorized, $745,000. Does committee agree?

Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 2023-2024, Department of Infrastructure, operations expenditures, energy and strategic initiatives, not previously authorized, $1,550,000. Does committee agree?