Wally Schumann

Mr. Speaker, with the conclusion of the seventh annual Dead North Film Festival this past weekend, it is appropriate that I speak today on our vibrant film industry and its growing importance to our economy.

First, I would like to congratulate all of the participants in this year's event. Nearly 40 films were submitted to the festival this year, with entries from across the North, each region of our territory, and from as young as nine and 10 years old.

Winners were recognized with Zombears. These awards recognize excellence in a variety of fields. In addition, the Northwest Territories Film...

I think probably one of the best things that we have done was the MIP program, the Mining Incentive Program. We have allocated some money there, and we thank the Members for helping us increase that for our department. We have $1 million there now for each year to put toward promising exploration projects and prospectors across the Northwest Territories. I can say that we have actually leveraged quite a bit of capital on that. It has leveraged $8.82 million in spending over a $2-million investment for the first four years of this program. In fact, in the Member's riding, Evrim Resources, which...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I think it is quite clear that the message that we have been putting out there to the global industry is getting through to them. We have participated in a number of events the last number of years and got in front of a number of people. We put the message out there that we have a world-leading jurisdiction with extraordinary mineral potential, we have great Indigenous participating around the mining industry, and we have the history getting some of these responsible projects off the ground.

At the same time, I think that the message is getting out there...

If you look at our energy plan going forward, we have a three-year rolling plan that is continually being adjusted as new technologies and different communities put their energy plans forward to us. We work with all the communities in the Northwest Territories. As for the Member's exact question around his communities, a lot of that is going to depend on what type of community involvement they are going to want to be able to participate in some of these projects going forward. With the power purchase agreements, if the community looks at our strategy, there is an opportunity for them to be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As far as power rates go, that question probably would have to be directed to the Minister of the Power Corporation. One thing I can say about installing these new fuel-efficient engines in the community of Sachs Harbour is the documentation and data that I've received shows it's going to have an 18-percent improvement on expected GHG savings, which is going to be about 283 kilotonnes a year, and it's designed, this construction, as all Members know, we're doing a wind study in that region. It's going to be able to build that addition to the power system.

As I have said, the Evrim Resources project is an exciting one. That was supported by the strategy and the incentives that we supplied through the MIP program. There are also people like Danny Yakeleya, who is in his riding, who has been successful with some gold prospecting efforts that he has done up in that area, and he has also accessed some prospector training and funding through our program, as well. The other one that we are working on to market is the Cantung project. Along with the federal government, we don't just want to get our money back from this project; we want to be able to...

The mineral development strategy recognizes the importance of preparing Indigenous governments and communities to capitalize on mining exploration. That is well said and done. At the corporate and political leadership level, we have been working with our client-service relations unit, which has done a great job engaging with communities and Indigenous governments and facilitating their participation at events like roundup, PDAC, the NWT geoscience forum that we participate in. Those are some of the things that the department is working very closely on with the Indigenous people and community...

I don't have that detailed information in front of me, but I can work with our Minister in charge of the MTPC and get that information to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Currently, there is no new money attached to this strategy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is something that we have been working on, but to update this House, we have actually shared this with the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment on February 15th for comment. Once it has been looked at by committee and responded to, we will be working on finalizing the strategy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.