Thank you. And I don't want to run into hot water with you, Mr. Chair, around what's been discussed with our committee review of this, but suffice it to say, like, this -- the announcement that was made publicly, I think it was the first time everyone became aware of it. And it is a little surprising because typically we don't see that. Typically we see things pretty static and changes come slow and usually there's either a supplementary estimate that comes up or some other instrument to move things along. So I will say this:

I like this. I think it's good initiative on the Minister's part. I think this is a sensible thing. I'd like to -- but, I mean, I would like to see this reflected in more areas of the budget -- or more areas -- sorry, of the GNWT where Ministers are making clear decisions around how things ought to work, and once we make that decision we work out from there. My only lament is that I would like -- it would be nice to see that in this budget, though, because when you have an announcement on, you know, budget day that all this cool stuff's happening and then you look at the document and it's not in there, then it leads us to ask these kind of questions and try to figure -- and try to piece together the plan. So at this point, it's a great idea and I look forward to seeing the plan. And, again, I hope we see more initiatives like this, but it would have been nice to see it reflected in this budget.

It also would be nice to see some increases to arts funding as well. We're chronically underfunded in arts, I'd say, compared to other -- some other jurisdictions, notably Yukon, which is a smaller budget than ours, smaller population, smaller territory size, all those things, but is often our closest comparison as a northern neighbour. And they have done remarkable things with their arts sector that by investing a significant amount of resource in it, and you see the dividends pay off. And it's complemented their tourism product. It's complemented their -- the -- you know, the cultural richness of Whitehorse and Dawson and the Indigenous communities as well. Like, there's lots -- there's lots you can look to. And I'm not going to -- I'm not going to look too favourably on them because I think far too often, we gush over the Yukon, and their problems are different than our problems, and we have lots going on here too. But one thing we could be doing more is spending -- is investing more in the arts, and I hope this shift sees that. I think ITI is perhaps more ambitious about how it chases people to invest, but I don't know because I haven't dealt with the department directly.

So maybe the Minister can speak to that because we've got a lot of people with expertise in this area. So, you know, how are we going to see these limited resources used more effectively by this change in policy direction? Thank you.