Katrina Nokleby

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In 2019, mining, oil, and gas dominated the Northwest Territories' economy by accounting directly for 21 percent of the overall GDP in the North. However, when we look at the spin-off industries and benefits, this number is much closer to 40 percent of our economy. There has been a significant downturn in mining-exploration spending due to COVID restrictions. Many exploration companies have been able to retain claims but are not able to do any work as access is cost prohibitive and will be so into the foreseeable future. The mining industry continues to be at risk...

Yes, I appreciate that, that there would be specialist-type situations or positions that would need to be with their fellow. I think we talked about that a lot in engineering collaboration. However, some of the items that you listed that these new positions are covering have to do with the administration. They have to do with things that sound very computer-oriented, very much sitting at a desk, I would just maybe again, as a comment, urge the Minister to consider, given our priority and mandates to increase employment in small communities, that we look at thinking outside the box and looking...

Thank you for that. That doesn't really answer my question. As all of these groups are where these projects or this funding can be accessed by these community organizations or whomever, that, to me, seems like an area where we would want to be focusing more money, given the current situation of what's going on, particularly if this is something that different organizations can access. The conditions around them could be made a lot more flexible, given the restrictions of COVID and the inability of a lot of organizations to operate in the same way that they have in the past. Maybe they could be...

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm just wondering, I look at page 175, the active positions, and just note that all of them are in headquarters here in Yellowknife. I'm just curious if the Minister can speak a bit to whether or not there is any opportunity to move any of these positions outside of the capital and put some of this employment into our smaller communities. Thank you.

Thank you for that, reiterating the Premier's point again. Thank you. I look forward to getting that information. Can you speak to how much money was spent relocating people around within the territory to take these positions, i.e., people being moved to the Beaufort-Delta region rather than hiring locally there? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am looking at page 178 at the active positions. Could the Minister or the department tell us how many of these positions were hired from the North versus how many were people brought from the South? Thank you.

I thank the Minister for the pseudo-commitment to that. I will probably follow up myself and just explain a little better what gap I am talking about because I do have some specific items to discuss. My next question is: what is the future of claim relief? What is the department going to do to ensure that, once restrictions are lifted, we are supporting our mineral exploration sector to get back to work?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are also for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Can the Minister maybe characterize what the decline in mining operations has been in the Northwest Territories due to COVID and maybe provide a bit of an estimate of the total number of companies that are expected to work on their mineral claims this upcoming fiscal year? Thank you.

I'm good. Thank you.