Thank you. Minister of Finance.

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, at the risk of repeating myself, I've had the opportunity to be on that highway and be in the community, and this is truly a gem for the Northwest Territories tourism industry. It should be -- I mean, it's a gem. And, you know, it would be such a wonderful opportunity to see it flooded with tourism but with the facilities there to properly receive the tourists and to maximize the opportunity for the community.

So my understanding is that the visitors centre, albeit small, is open. I agree there was no -- there wasn't quite the flash opening that any of us had perhaps hoped for, but this summer certainly wasn't what anyone expected it to be. There is right now a secondment from one of the ITI staff to the community of Tuktoyaktuk to help really vision what a bigger picture for tourism might be. For example, the opportunity for a culture centre in Tuktoyaktuk, which I have an impression that the federal government has taken some interest in as well. So I think there is more to come but, as I was just saying with Whati, it's -- it really ideally should be the community that says, here's our vision and idea. ITI can then provide some of the supports, whether through, again, tourism funding and/or with liaising with the federal government and being a kind of cochampion to the federal government. So I think there's a lot of opportunity. I agree. There's nothing in the capital plan because there's not -- you know, again, the tourism centre right now is opened. The RV park, again, too, Madam Chair, I don't have an answer on the RV park. I think there was some disagreement on location and that involved the federal government lands location. So quite a few things not that I can fix with the capital plan here, Madam Chair. But it's one that I hope this is a discussion that continues for whomever's back in this House. Again, my view is that Tuktoyaktuk should be really, again, an absolute gem.

I will one last note, Madam Chair, tourism numbers were big this year notwithstanding the fires along the Dempster, notwithstanding the challenges. Numbers were up already, and they'll hopefully continue to go up, but they're going to need proper resources. I don't disagree with that. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Nunakput.

Madam Chair, no, just in regards to that, you know, I think the one that we have seconded into the community, I think she should be focusing a little bit more on working with the hamlet of Tuk in regards to the RV park and getting a plan ready instead of, you know, focusing wholly on the visitors centre and trying to find funding. I think that the community of Tuk, the hamlet of Tuk is stretched to the limit already. And they're providing the service that should be provided by the territorial government as an RV park. I see we got a list here two pages long in regards to different projects that are happening in the communities, but I don't see nothing -- they say it's a gem. Yes, it is a gem in regards to the -- it's on Tuk 71A lands through the IRC which, like I said, we have to make a plan to get the locations picked through the HTCs and for the pull-outs, access to Husky Lake, to finish off that program. We have to help the community in regards to -- we have the visitors centre but I think more emphasis has to be put on actually helping the community and the hamlet of Tuk instead of letting them utilize their own money to provide a service that this government should be providing. So am I going to -- are we working toward getting funds for, I guess, an RV park in the community of Tuk? It's already made. But at the end of the day, though, the bottom line is the hamlet of Tuk is paying for it, not the GNWT out of their funds. Are they able to look at that in the future? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So, Madam Chair, the complicating factor here is there are no GNWT lands that can be turned into a territorial park, nor -- unless there was to be some sort of lands swap. But, I mean, right now this is not GNWT land. They are IFR -- or Inuvialuit lands and/or Tuk community corp lands. So my -- in speaking with the department over the last couple of years and wondering why there isn't more development, quite frankly, in Tuktoyaktuk and/or along the highway, part of it is, again, that's not our land to develop and it's not our land to do anything with. We can support the community, provide the funding. We provided a staff member. The staff member is now theirs. The staff member's been seconded. She can do as is directed by the community corporation. That's how secondment works. And can be applying for tourism funds, can be applying to do different things. That's entirely at the behest of the community. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Nunakput.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Minister could correct me if I'm wrong. The RV park is in the hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, in the hamlet boundaries. So in the hamlet boundaries, the hamlet falls under the GNWT. The GNWT should be providing this service. Am I wrong? Can she correct me? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I understand there was an RV park that was privately run, and they have burnt down. But, again, I'm -- I wouldn't -- I mean, I'm not from Tuktoyaktuk, Madam Chair. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Nunakput.

Thank you, Madam Chair. No, there is a private RV park in the community of Tuk. We have -- and then we have the -- because there's so many RVers that -- and tourists that come up to the community, the hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk came upon themselves to try to solve the problem because it's just been too much vehicles coming in, nowhere to park, parking everywhere. So they put allotted -- like, alloted from 1 to 25. They're paying for that out of their hamlet budget. So under the Hamlet Act, they fall under the Government of the Northwest Territories. They should be getting funds. Are they going to start being able to get funds for the community of Tuktoyaktuk for the RV park in the community? Thank you.

Thank you, Member. And I think that would be under operations. And so as this is capital, but I'll give it to the Minister and then since -- if she has any comments or not, then -- thank you. Minister.

Madam Chair, I'm not going to create a new project sitting here in the chair. But what I can do is -- I know we do have a new regional superintendent, I believe -- I hope in place already for the Beaufort Delta, or soon to be in place in the Beaufort Delta. And that seems like exactly the kind of thing that that individual should be going into Tuktoyaktuk and really, you know, making it their flagship project to sort this out. It's the first -- there are community infrastructure funds for tourism that the community may want to be applying for, and they could be getting the support of the regional office to do that. Thank you.

Small, final question, Member for Nunakput.

Okay, thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for that because it's the lack of support in the community of Tuk for that tourism. It's a lack of support our government is giving them. Using their own money that's taking away from the community for their roads, for the water, their sewage, for sporting events. It's not that we're not creating a new -- a new expenditure here. It's just what we're not doing. And I see two pages on this of everything else being covered but that. Tuk shouldn't -- the mayor and the council shouldn't be picking and choosing what they could do with what little they have. It's not a new project. It's -- I want to make that clear. This is a project that they -- our department fell short on, and we need it sorted out. So it's got to be looked at in the future. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to -- you know, we had the fire here this -- you know, I guess in the spring and in the -- you know, this last one here and some of it impacted some of the parks. I'm just wondering if any of this infrastructure -- any of these infrastructure projects have been impacted by the fire. Are we seeing anything being pushed back because of that? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So we've seen some delays to the 2023-2024 plan. Obviously what we're looking to see approved now is the 2024-2025 plan, so looking forward. There have been certainly delays in the current fiscal year's plan, and I can certainly provide a bit of a list to the Member if that's easier. I mean, yes, there's delays, but hopefully -- yes. Yes, I can provide a list if that's helpful. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, like, I guess, just to use, say, Alexander Falls campsite and Louise, there was some extensive damage. Not to the structures themselves, but to the area around it, which I suspect was going to compromise the use of it possibly this summer. And so that's kind of concern to me because tourism is going to be very important in the South Slave. You know, with the low water levels, shipping problems, and all that, we're seeing a decrease, I guess, in opportunities there. So, you know, we're going to be losing stalls and that. So I'm just wondering if -- and this, I guess, is more of an operational, I'm sorry. But we have, you know, two tourism operators that we could be supporting who do have beds to take up that slack. Is that something that we are looking at doing to kind of offset some of that? Thank you.

Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So what I have with me is the 2022-2023 delays. And with respect simply to Hay River and to parks in particular, I don't see that there's been any expressed delays there. There was a bit of a delay in getting the fish processing plant online, but it wasn't damaged.

As far as any damage to facilities and damage to park facilities specifically, that would likely be coming in either in a supplementary appropriation under the infrastructure budget or into the future infrastructure budget because that damage assessment hasn't been done yet. Obviously hoping that it would fall under the Disaster Assistance Policy and see funding through the federal government. But, again, without the assessments done, I can't -- I certainly can't put it forward here. And then more generally, I mean, yes, tourism broadly speaking is really more of an operations issue in terms of what supports are there. I'm quite live to it, Madam Chair, and the week after we are done here, I have one more FPT, and it's in tourism. So it's not lost on me. Thank you.