Steve Norn

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for that response. It's good to hear because I'm just trying to understand that specific earmark there for traditional knowledge, so thank you for that response. One other item here that kind of got my attention was the country foods. The actuals were $239,000, and now it's down to $50,000. Is this being reallocated someplace else? Is this country foods being spoken to somewhere else in this section? Thank you.

Thank you. The other item here, too, there is a decrease, as well, not so much a sunset, for the stewardship program. Can the Minister explain why there is a decrease there, as well?

No questions.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Monitoring and range planning.

No. That's good to know. I wasn't too sure I understood that because, in the actuals, it didn't exist. Now, that's earmarked for that, so at least I know what that's for. At this time, I don't have any other questions, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for that. This is going to be important, and I'll say it again, I really don't want to be put in a position where we have, for lack of a better word, an economic triage. I'm moving along here. I'm looking at some of the other items here with film and arts. I think these are really, really important items. Arts, I think, are great. Before I went into office, I did some small film, and I did a couple of small horror films, H-O-R-R-O-R, just to make sure everyone heard me right there. It was a lot of fun. I think I encourage anybody who wants to go into the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for that response. It's nice to hear there is the concern for some of our companies, our tour operators. I mentioned in my budget address that my biggest fear right now is that the direction we are going is, at some point, we are going to have to have a triage, and I really don't want to be put in the position, with my colleagues here, to have to pick and choose which companies and tour operators, et cetera, get to stay afloat and who doesn't. I really hope that we can get ahead of that. My next question is: I heard the Community Futures Regional Relief and...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm just looking at page 211 and some of the various line items. In the last while, a lot of tourism operators took hits, I think, everywhere. It was a struggle to give people, like our tour operators and companies, assistance and try to help them weather out this storm, per se. I just wanted to ask the question for the Minister: how close their relationship is with CIRNAC to find out how funding is flowing to help out our tour operators in the NWT? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that the committee defer further consideration of the estimates for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment at this time. Marsi cho, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll just finish off with a comment. There are jurisdictions. You look at other areas in Canada, like B.C., Alberta, you see some very cool country and western movies as of late, and you see Toronto. They really, really promote. Their governments invest money into their areas or to try to bring in foreign money. I think there should be some opportunity here, something that ITI and the Minister should consider at some point. I'll leave it at that. Thank you, Madam Chair.