Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't believe we've done that. The whole intent of the ferry service in the winter that the Member is talking about was to address the situation at the Ikhil Well and we took that out of the budget in the last session, and we believe that the proponent in Inuvik has made this a priority for them to bring propane in to be able to keep the flow of the Ikhil Well and the propane flowing.

As the Member knows, NTPC produces most of the electricity in the Northwest Territories. It owns and operates all the hydro facilities in NWT, as well as most of the diesel generations. He is right. It is correct that they are an important factor in how we are going to approach this. They are a critical partner of ours in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but, at the same time, our action plan is closely aligned with their next 20 years strategic plan on how they are going to operate and their capital requirements doing this.

Our bilateral agreement that we are going to sign with...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left, I have Julie Mujcin, Director of Finance, and on my right, I have Deputy Minister Tom Jensen.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I have said in my earlier comments to Member Thompson, this is our equity portion of Growing Forward, the new CAP program. The federal funding is totally separate, above that. That will be in the grants and contributions that show later in our binder. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I can't remember specifically who the individual was, but I remember they sent me a letter saying they wouldn't have been able to do their program in the Northwest Territories without this program. While we were at Mineral Roundup at the AME, I had a couple of people come up to me who thanked us for having this program in place and the other initiatives that we have to promote the mining industry in the Northwest Territories.

I don't have to tell the Members of this House that there is a lot of interest in mining in the Northwest Territories. As things start to come...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I said, we are working with the city to determine a longterm model of the delivery of the tourism information centre, and we'll work closely with the City of Yellowknife and keep committee informed on where this initiative is going. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Could I get the Member to rephrase the question? I don't totally understand what he's asking.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do not envision BDIC going away. I have met with them a number of times. We have our fiveyear program review that is going to be taking place right now. We have met with them, and they are quite excited about doing that.

Times have changed since BDIC was incorporated, and the business community has changed significantly. We anticipate doing a review and coming back to committee on how we can see this thing operating in the future, going forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Main estimates, page 221, first line, Aboriginal Mineral Development Support Program, and then “other contributions,” as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Page 221.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. One of the things we have to take into consideration here, this is early days for this arm's-length board. They're just convening here. You know, just lately, we've just put these people in place. I'm sure as these things come up, they will come back to us and we will have a look at it and what role we can take and play to try to maybe correct some of these things going forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.