Katrina Nokleby

Thank you, Madam Chair. It is my understanding that the SEED application isn't quite so bad as, perhaps, some of the federal requirements are, but having not applied for SEED funding myself, I will go and ensure that that is the case. We do have the regional offices to act as pathfinders. We offer that always through ITI. We have been encouraging people to reach out to the regional office if they are having trouble with any sorts of applications. I believe that we have also been offering that help even on federal programs or navigating programs that are not our own. I do recognize that the...

[Microphone turned off] ...will leave, and we will bring in our director of finance and administration. My apologies. I tried to catch you. No. It's all good.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Maybe after, the Member can provide me with the location so that I could answer, but if that's the case, and there is an area that's not being used, and the department doesn't really want the overnight camping, we could definitely explore whether or not we could open it for a day use type situation. I would just need to look at that particular case. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. At this time, there are no additional resources in the budget. We just have the staff time and the MARS. I forget its acronym at this moment, but the MARS, and we can provide what the acronym is in a second here. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm actually going to respond to your first question about the BDIC by allocation. I do have that answer for you right now, by region. In the North Slave, we spent $1.07 million. In the South Slave, we spent $2.07 million. In the Sahtu, we spent about $20,000. In the Deh Cho, we spent $212,000. In the Beaufort-Delta, we spent $1.3 million. So that's the BDIC, and I'm just going to try to find in my many schedules the SEED one. My apologies, committee. All right.

With SEED, by region, I've got a few different breakdowns, here. Northwest Territories-wide, we've spent $366...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The reason we are exploring that option in the Beaufort Delta is not only for our own energy and fuel needs but also to export to Asian markets. We're talking about using, potentially, an offshore loading facility or such or a port in which we would then be able to load shippers and tankers off to Asia because that's actually a shorter route than they are currently using at the moment to go from different parts of Canada out to the coasts through pipelines, et cetera. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I sent you all an email a few days ago in which we indicated that all of the fees for tourism operators will be waived for the 2020-2021 year, set to zero, actually. We had to change them within the act. They will be set to zero. They will continue to have the licence. If they do want to go out and operate, though, they do have to have their insurance. That is part of the thing. In the meantime, they can continue to keep their licence without having the insurance if they are not operating. I do understand that this might create a little bit of "Is someone going to get...

Quality-based selection is very close to my heart. It is something that, as a consulting engineer, we discuss often in our association. I speak to engineering projects; we do not feel that engineering is done well when it's done cheaply. You get what you pay for. I do commit to bringing in more of a quality-based selection mindset to the procurement process. Obviously, we have a duty to protect the public purse. We need to make sure we are getting value for our dollars. However, that discussion around the indirect benefits of keeping money in the North, i.e. not having people go onto income...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think this was actually a conversation we also had as part of our priorities, was sort of almost a mentorship-type program and pairing up maybe people who are new to the business world with those who have great experience. I am open to that, and I do encourage my department to put those relationships in place. Maybe, at this time, it would be a little bit more informal than it would be a formalized program, but I am definitely open to having a conversation about formalizing the program.

I did just want to point out that the northern food fund is for commercial growers...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The total for the year is $1.2 million. This is our contribution. Thank you, Madam Chair.