Wally Schumann

I thank the Member for his eagerness, but there is a process that we have in place here, and we're engaging Freshwater Fish Marketing Corp., we're engaged with the federal government at our level, we have our colleagues on the other side of the House through committee. There's a number of things that we need to do, and I think if time permitting let this process work its way through the system here for the next little bit. As I said, we're getting very close to coming to an agreement with Freshwater, with an MOU and a business plan that we start moving on. As he stated, we are both from Hay...

The important thing about the $1.4 million that's been carried over from last fiscal year to this fiscal year is for the Department of ITI to use that as leverage for the funding that we are putting forward to CanNor to give us the best potential to help build the plant in Hay River. That being said, the Member actually had two questions there, if we weren't able to make a deal with Freshwater on that moving forward, what could we potentially do with that money. Well, that would have to be a discussion along with myself and our colleagues in this House if we want to shift the priorities of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Mining Incentive Program is one of the things we heard around the table, as I said, along with a number of other things that I've previously mentioned. I will not commit to doing a cost-benefit analysis, just because I know going down there, meeting with industry, meeting with the Mining Advisory Board, the Chamber of Mines, the input that we get from a number of stakeholders, be it industry, like I said, or governments, or financial institutions, moving this file forward is to get down there and be in front of these stakeholders that want to look in the Northwest...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I stated, we had a number of meetings with different stakeholders on how we can improve the mining situation in the Northwest Territories. If we want to get into specifics, the solutions, I could stand here and probably talk about stuff all day from mining -- from staking in the industry in the Northwest Territories, to go online, to the regulatory process, to better geoscience information available, to junior mining companies, to socio-economic agreements, and how do we deal with Aboriginal governments moving forward, to land claims. As I said, our regulatory...

Mr. Speaker, I have a return to oral question asked by Mr. O'Reilly on October 20, 2016, regarding the hydraulic fracturing regulatory system.

I have worked with my colleagues in the Departments of Environment and Natural Resources and Lands, given their different roles in ensuring securities are in place for resource development projects. We have also engaged with the Office of the Regulator of Oil and Gas Operations.

I would first like to highlight that there is a polluter- pay system to ensure that government is not left paying for cleanups. The polluter-pay principle is fundamental to the...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following five documents entitled "Followup Letter to Oral Question 25518(2): Status of Mackenzie Valley Highway Business Case;" "Followup Letter to Oral Question 38618(2): Small Community Restricted Drivers' Licenses;" "Followup Letter to Oral Question 41918(2): Sahtu Winter Road Construction and Maintenance;" "Followup Letter to Oral Question 43018(2): Canol Trail Remediation Project;" and "Followup Letter to Oral Question 43218(2): Brush Cutting along the Dempster Highway."

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I guess previously when I was on the Metis Government Council we have a seat at the board of GSLAC, and GSLAC is a governing board that puts advisory suggestions along with DFO on how we're going to use the lake, and this is one of the areas of discussions how we can re-divide up the lake and make better access points to be considered for the fisherman to access and make a little better living and be able to raise their quota on the lake. These discussions are ongoing. They recently had a meeting as early as last month, and there's discussions still going on. I can state in this House when we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member knows, because we are both from the fishing community of Hay River, how important to get this file moving is. The department is working closely with Freshwater on trying to move this file along. As of the latest briefing that I've got, they were still in discussions with Freshwater Marketing Corporation on getting an MOU and business plan together, and like I say, on my latest briefing, I believe they're going to try to bring something forward here within the next week or so for us to consider. So that's where that's at.

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to provide an overview of the Department of Transportation’s efforts to capture economic opportunities at the Yellowknife airport.

The department is taking steps to make the Yellowknife airport financially self-sufficient. By running the airport more like a business, we will be able to make capital improvements, create jobs, and explore opportunities to drive economic growth across the territory. The Yellowknife airport is crucial to the territorial economy and creates 1,000 direct and 2,000 indirect jobs. We need to be sure we are capturing these opportunities...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Follow-up Letter to Oral Question 401-18(2): Slave Geological Province Transportation Corridor." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.