Kevin O'Reilly

That's great that these are partnerships, but when people don't live up to them there have got to be some sanctions there or some way of ensuring compliance again.

So there's a mix of commitments in terms of office locations and functions in the current socio-economic agreements. When I looked at the Voisey's Bay development agreement and our inability to retain head offices for large resource development projects, what is the Minister prepared to do to ensure that there are no further main office closures in Yellowknife by resource developers?

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm looking at page 214, which is the Environmental Studies Research Fund, and I guess for 2017-18 looking at spending $298,000, and there's still a closing balance of $326,000. I'm just wondering why there's not a plan to spend more of the funding than $298,000. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Why are we contracting people to go meet with the communities? Is that not something that we would do on our own with our existing staff? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. My questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. On the weekend I was doing some work, research for my Member's statement on socio-economic agreements, so I went to the departmental website. There's a mix of unsigned versions and only one completed and signed agreement there. Can the Minister commit to getting the final and signed versions of all these agreements on the department's website within a reasonable period of time? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Look, I'll be the first to admit I don’t really know a lot about how tourism operators are regulated. So is this individual then going to look at applications for potential operators, check to see whether they've got insurance coverage, go out and do inspections or something on their infrastructure or vehicles? Maybe the Minister could just get a little bit more specific about what this position really does. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am not sure that it is buried in there. This seems to be a much more transparent way of presenting the information; why has it been moved to contracts? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Merci, monsieur le President. GNWT has negotiated socioeconomic agreements for the following projects:

Ekati Mine, 1996;

Diavik Mine, 1999;

Snap Lake Mine, 2004;

Mackenzie Gas Project, 2007;

Prairie Creek Mine, 2011; and

Gahcho Ku'e Mine, 2013.

We all know that at least two of these projects announced the closure of their offices in the Northwest Territories and moved to Calgary. The most recent announcement by Dominion Diamond Corporation was met with silence by our government. Constituents contacted me about the loss of jobs and businesses for Yellowknife. I could only tell them that our...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the response from the Minister, but it didn't really answer my question. So is this individual going to be coordinating in any way or assisting the Northern Frontier Visitor Centre with their workload? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I just want to go to the grants and contributions and transfers page, which is 207. There was a reduction in the socio-economic agreement funding for Canadian Zinc and Diavik. There is now zero there for 2017-18. Can the Minister or staff explain what is going on? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So is there any possibility of increasing that funding say one time to help with the infrastructure at the visitor centre within the O and M budget so that it wouldn't necessarily appear in capital? Is that a possibility, Mr. Chair? Thank you.