Steve Norn

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have one quick question and one last concern. I won't try to drag this on too long. The $1.5 million, minerals and oil and gas royalties, again, we used to get so many royalties. I think something we really need to look at as a government is, any time there is new development in the future, to find a way that, if there is any sort of massive ebbs, like we are having right now, to have some cost certainty or royalty certainty, for lack of better words. Any time the market has tanked, no matter what is negotiated, any time we negotiate with industry or the resources...

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 for that. That's good to know. Like any other agreement, it sounds like there is a contract involved, probably a tripartite. What is the commitment from the GNWT and the other parties? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. Thank you again for that response. I will just leave this with a comment. In our committees, we say our morning prayers and stuff. I always say we should say prayers for people, our staff, and our public servants who put themselves in harm's way. This is one of them. I have done it myself. It's a dangerous job, and people just do not realize corrections does not stop. It's a 24/7 operation. You always have to be alert. You always have to be in it all the time. Like I said, like my colleague from Thebacha said, you have to look out for each other and work as a team...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just looking at page 279, one thing I had a question about is this CNRTP, the Corrections Northern Recruitment Training Program. From what I've heard so far, it's been a pretty good program to keep staffing levels up in that area. My question for the Minister is: where is this training program primarily held? Is it just in Yellowknife, or is it held in places like Inuvik or Fort Smith or Hay River? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for the response. It's just good to hear some of the proactive stuff we need, too. A lot of our Justice initiatives are, I want to say, kneejerk, but a lot of it is reactive. It's good to see some of the proactive projects like this happen with the department. I did have one other question here, too, just moving on to this other line item, victims assistance support projects. Can the Minister just briefly describe what that line item covers? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for that answer. I kind of was going in this direction. I know that a lot of community justice committees and boards are really tough to staff. I would just ask the Minister: are there a lot of vacancies in the communities that we just mentioned? Thank you.

Marsi cho, Madam Chair. Committee wishes to consider Tabled Document 286-19(2), Main Estimates 2021-2022, Department of Justice. Marsi cho.