Alfred Moses

I’m glad to hear that the policy and the program are being reviewed. When you go on the website for ITI, you’ll notice there’s an online database that’s really helpful to businesses to get the funding they can access.

Under the section for grants and contributions – because we’ve heard today about the high cost of doing business, the high cost of power rates in some of the communities and we also heard earlier today that there is going to be an increase in the Minimum wage, so all this has an effect on the really small business, entrepreneurs in the communities – can any of this funding be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome Mr. Mark Prins to the House today. He’s a physician up in Inuvik and hopefully he’ll be a long-time resident and providing the health care and services to people in Inuvik and the Northwest Territories.

I’d also like to take the opportunity to welcome all participants from the Campaign School and recognize the staff of the Status of Women Council for putting on such a great program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It’s an honour to actually give some general comments and feedback on our last operations budget for the 17th Legislative Assembly. When you look at the budget and see all the work that’s been going on over the life of this Assembly and the collaboration that Cabinet and Regular Members and standing committees have worked on and addressed, it’s great to see things like the Economic Opportunities Strategy, the Mineral Strategy, as well as Early Childhood Development Action Plan, the Mental Health and Addictions Action Plan, as well as the Anti-Poverty Strategy, and even to...

The emergency funding, I know it’s not supposed to be ongoing to help our businesses, but over the summer we had low water levels on the Mackenzie River which resulted in some businesses having to ship their materials by air, which increases the costs.

What is the total amount for this emergency fund and heard on a case-by-case basis? We’ve heard our population is decreasing; people are leaving. The economy is low, so what is the total cost of the emergency fund that businesses can access? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In a follow-up to my Member’s statement talking about small businesses and how we can support them, I have questions today for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Every year we go through our budget process and we give out close to $12 million in grants and contributions to businesses across the Northwest Territories, particularly Support to Entrepreneurs and Economic Development funding, SEED funding.

Has this funding been utilized every year to its maximum potential, and when was the last time the SEED funding increased? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We heard some good news in the House today: the minimum wage increase as well as dropping fuel prices. That’s great for our residents and great for people in the Northwest Territories. Today I want to speak about the small business sector and possibly how this minimum wage increase can affect our small businesses in the communities who are trying to get ahead, employ our residents and now they’re going to have to deal with the wage increase as well. I will be asking questions of the Minister of ITI if there’s a possibility that we can subsidize this.

The reality is that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Due to the historic event that happened in Inuvik last month, I have a few various news articles as well as a news release from the Swedish Space Corporation pertaining to the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Optic Link and Inuvik Satellite Station Facility. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. There are a lot of benefits once this fibre optic link gets connected down the valley here.

I want to ask the Minister, talking with his Cabinet counterparts in terms of such benefits as telehealth, e-learning, has he been doing some type of inventory to make sure that we have those type of resources in the community so that we can increase the telehealth, the e-learning and with other departments as well? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to follow up on my Member’s statement earlier on the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Optic Link as well as the Inuvik Satellite Facility. I have questions for the Minister of Finance.

It’s been in the newspaper and on NWT Days we had a delegation going over to China and Japan. We had a delegation go to Sweden as well as Germany, I think last year.

I just want to know what kind of talks and, I guess, commitments are we getting from other countries to look at putting up antennas or satellites at the Inuvik Satellite Facility. Thank you.

Maybe some short responses.

---Laughter

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We do have a delegation that’s travelled around the world looking at investments. Would the Minister be looking at possibly creating or hosting some type of conference in Inuvik so we could get a delegation from all over the world and it would boost the economy in the North and boost the economy in the Beaufort-Delta to see the potential of the Fibre Optic Link and potential of the satellite facility? Would the Minister look at hosting a conference of some type? Thank you.