Wally Schumann

Yes, I am the champion of mining in the Northwest Territories, and I will continue to do that. At the same time, this is an agreement between Dominion Diamond and their employees and the union, and this is something that needs to be worked out between them. We do not impose ourselves on contracts or employees in a manner that tries to tell a private business how to run their business. I will not do that, but I am very concerned about meeting our socio-economic agreements, and we will work with all parties involved to try to ensure as many northern jobs are protected and that commitments are...

If those types of conversations took place, they would have taken place at a level below me. I could certainly have a look at that. I think that one of the things going forward, something that has crossed my mind is particularly the Fred Henne Park, which is right here in the City of Yellowknife. I think we need to have a discussion of maybe the city wants to take that over or maybe the YK Dene or somebody. There is an opportunity there, I think, for either one of them to latch onto that, and we can have a discussion around that.

As far as expanding new parks across the system, I am not aware...

One thing, let's make it quite clear, most of these jobs, as I have been informed, are mostly NWT residents, and we are quite concerned about that. Particularly as the Minister of ITI, I have a very big concern about that. We want to keep these jobs in our territory, but, at the same time, this is an issue between the union and Dominion Diamond. If there is an issue that they can't work out and they want someone to help facilitate, I would certainly direct my department to try to help them do that. We want to make sure that Dominion Diamond, regardless of the outcome of this, that they meet...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I did in my Minister's statement, I said that ITI is going to be spending $7 million on parks infrastructure in this coming year, which is a significant investment across the parks system. One of the things that we need to make quite clear: we are almost a victim of our own success here around tourism, because the growth has been so substantial and the pressures put on the system have been enormous. I commend the department for all of the hard work they are doing. As I said, we are spending $7 million on the parks system this year, which includes a lot of money in...

As with any of these large projects taking place in the Northwest Territories, be it our own projects or P3 projects, there is something always to be learned. There is something to be learned on everyday-to-day life, and these projects are no different. The one thing I suspect going forward on this, to make it quite clear, I suspect because this was a federally funded project by a significant amount, there is going to be some type of federal audit around this project, and we will gladly participate in that, and we will gladly share that with Members of the House if it is done. Thank you, Mr...

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories is following through on its mandate commitment to strengthen connections with public and private sector partners and work to secure funding to advance planning and construction of transportation projects and invest in strategic transportation infrastructure across the Northwest Territories. These partnerships have resulted in investments to improve the quality of the Northwest Territories' highway system, which increases public safety and ensures efficient delivery of essential goods and services for communities.

This summer, the...

I don't think it is going to have an impact on tourism whatsoever. As the ferry situation is not even open yet, it has not impacted access to that road right now from southern Canada. The impact of the road closure right now is between the residents in Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk. They have been very receptive and understanding of the situation that we need to complete this road. The contractors are out there diligently doing their work along with our engineering people. We look forward to the road opening to the general public as soon as it is safe to do so.

As the Member is well aware, we have a process that we follow. We have forced growth. We have new initiatives. We have the budget process. The department recognizes the needs and the pressure on the system and the fiscal capacity that we have to deliver what we can deliver with what we have. I will be bringing something forward for more funding around a whole bunch of initiatives. In due time, we will have those brought to the House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I have stated in this House many times, we are continuing to give the ongoing support that we gave to the tourism centre that previously operated, $161,000 annually. That is going on, as far as I know, as long as I am here. What we are waiting to do is hear back from the City of Yellowknife with their consultants what their long-term view of this is.

I can get those details for the Member, but I believe, through our infrastructure bilaterals that we signed with Minister Sohi, one of the line items there is to have a look at some of the preconstruction work that would need to be completed for the Taltson project. There is certainly some money there that we are looking at spending on predevelopment work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.