Wally Schumann

Mr. Speaker, I seek consent to proceed with second reading of Bill 21, An Act to Amend the Northwest Territories Business Development and Investment Corporation Act. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway was one of the largest construction projects undertaken by the Government of the Northwest Territories, and it was completed for the most part on time and on budget. Although the terrain on which the highway was constructed is challenging, the design, planning, and construction of the highway were all conducted by a team of experts. Overall, the highway has been performing as expected. The first winter season of operation was successful, and the highway experienced an average of 60 to 70 vehicles per day.

The contractor is addressing...

I guess I should clarify: the regional superintendent was the superintendent of Infrastructure, and we are going to be looking at using the Community Access Program for this project. We are going to work closely with them to help them prepare their proposal. Part of the criteria around the CAP program is we provide contributions to the communities, but when it goes through that process, there are requirements that we need to consider; the level of community involvement in the process, the benefit to the community, and the cost. That's what we will be working with them once we get the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Normally, I would have probably let that one slide, but I am not going to. This is not a fiscal reduction to meet infrastructure needs. This was a way that we moved to prudently manage the money of the Northwest Territories so we could help facilitate and move forward on all policies and needs of the residents of the Northwest Territories, not just the Department of Infrastructure. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Oceans Protection Plan is going to provide a great opportunity for us to secure funding to improve marine infrastructure across the Northwest Territories, in all communities. In the case of Tuktoyaktuk, once funding is approved for the planning study, which we hope it will be, and with the ongoing discussions that we are doing it sounds very favourable, we will be able to get a better picture of what the marine infrastructure needs will be in the community. Once that planning study is done, it will be able to give us further submissions. As I have said, this is a five-year process of...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Every corporate plan will be tabled in the House, and it will show the breakdown on how they are using this money, so it's going to be fully transparent and will be shared. If it's tabled in the House, everybody will be able to have a look at it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently there is significant opportunity to secure funding for marine infrastructure in the Northwest Territories under the Oceans Protection Plan, which I have mentioned in the House here lately. Under this program, the federal government is investing roughly $94.3 million over five years under the Safety Equipment and Basic Marine Infrastructure in Northern Communities Initiative, which is the intent to make investments in on-the-ground safety equipment and basic marine infrastructure to support safer communities, resupply operations, in training for the use of...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We need to operationalize this. What we want to do is: when we do the review, we want to look at their operations and how they are doing things within their operations. Through this review that we are going to be conducting with them, which we will be presenting the term of reference probably shortly to committee or once we have all the information pulled together and hope we are going to have that in the next couple of weeks or so, we will be able to review how they operationalize their operation. That is how I will be conducting it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my immediate right is the director of finance and administration for the Department of ITI, Julie Mujcin. On my right is Department of Justice legislative drafter, Doug Ward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am here to present Bill 21, An Act to Amend the Northwest Territories Business Development and Investment Corporation Act.

The NWT Business Development and Investment Corporation, or BDIC, is a territorial Crown corporation that was established in 2005 to promote and maintain economic development and employment.

While the corporation generates substantial income from its investments and loans, it is currently prohibited by its act from using this income to fund its operations.

Instead, the BDIC relies on the Government of the Northwest Territories and some third-party...