Thank you very much, Mr. Aitchison. I appreciate the conversation we're having and your question in particular.
Yes, our performing arts centre concept has gone through a couple of years of really purposeful study. We've made substantial investments in going through that process. For example, we developed a feasibility study and spent a year of consultation with all sorts of different levels of stakeholders. At one point, there was interest from a federal minister of Canadian heritage. That was really starting to signal a potential upswing in very necessary tripartite investments with different levels of government.
The political investment climate at the moment is usually that within the federal family there is interest and appetite in filling this Canadian gap, as I was espousing. The trouble with the territorial government is that there is this management by crisis. A lot of the necessary operating and investment programming dollars goes just to handle crises. About 60% to 70% of its budget is just to deal with crises in health, education and transportation, so what is left over to invest in legacy projects such as the Nunavut performing arts centre?
Dollars to donuts, this performing arts centre would have tremendous return on an investment. It would signal that Nunavut and Iqaluit are a cultural Mecca where people all over the world can come—safely. of course.
When you have something that's concrete, that's a bricks and mortar place like this, it's akin to building a university. We don't have that here either. The point is, sir, that it's really about the momentum we've been building. It has been a wonderful opportunity to be able to share it with you.
Lastly, my point is that this infrastructure investment really is about tying in the work we're doing at the school with performing arts nationally and internationally. Again, it's this homegrown generational effort. I think you would agree that the performing arts are an incredibly important panacea, perhaps, in growing the next generation of self-actualized, healthy Inuit.