Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Maybe I'm just a little bit thicker today, but then can the Minister tell me what this position actually does? Do they regulate operators in some way? What exactly does this position do? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister tell me where it was moved to? Thank you.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I understand the study is probably going to be available in a matter of weeks, so I really look forward to talking to the Minister again about what additional support we can provide for the centre, but in his opening remarks he talked a lot about the new initiatives that the department's doing. One of them was $132,000 for a full-time tourism development officer position for the North Slave Region. Can the Minister just explain a little bit more about what this position is going to do and whether that individual is going to be in a position to offer support to the visitor...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I guess I would suggest to the Minister that he divert the resources that are going into this strategy into economic diversification, as one of my colleagues mentioned a few minutes ago. I have some other questions, though, Mr. Chair. I would like to get back onto your list, if I could. I do appreciate the time with the Minister, and I will have more questions for him. Thank you.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I'm just wondering, can the Minister tell us whether there's any core funding or other kinds of funding that are provided through the budget to the Northern Frontier Visitor Centre? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the comments from the Minister, but if we do not continue to provide support for the industry, I do not think it will continue to grow. I do want to move on, if I could. I think it is 204, the active positions page. Is that something I can do at this point, Mr. Chair? Yes.

As I understand it, there are two positions that are going to be lost in the department as a result of this budget. The only two positions seem to be in economic diversification and business support. Can the Minister explain to me how this supports our mandate of economic diversification...

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So, I guess I will have to ask that question when we come to the Department of Finance departmental budget. I am just looking at a couple of other things here, chargebacks and contract services. There are some changes here between 201617 and 201718, and I am wondering if the Minister and his staff can explain the reduction in the chargebacks, and then there is a fairly significant increase in contract services? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I appreciate the clarification from the departmental staff. Does this represent good value for money? Are we going to just rely on SEED to do this, or are we going to invest some of our own money in this as well? More directly, Mr. Chair, can the Minister answer that? Thank you.

Merci, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document. It's from The Hill Times dated February the 1, 2017. It is titled "Divide and Conquer: How the feds split the provinces in health talks." They have outflanked their provincial counterparts entirely, says one source close to the talks. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am looking at a figure of $100,000, but if the Minister wants to bump it up to $160,000, I would be very happy with that. Is he proposing an increase? Thank you, Mr. Chair.