Brendan Bell

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, it is a very serious and potentially dangerous issue and I would like to tell the Member and assure the House that we have been in discussions for some time now with the Department of Transportation as to how to best address this issue and do what we can to keep buffalo off the highways. It would be nice if they did it on their own, but unfortunately it’s nice travelling on the highways and probably relatively, if you consider going into the deep bush, bug-free compared to that. So the buffalo seem to naturally gravitate toward the highways. But we are working...

Sorry, Mr. Speaker. I apologize. I did miss the question, if the Member could just restate the question. Thank you.

I am aware that the Housing Corporation has gone to the marketplace for the provision of housing in non-market communities and the BIP is being waived on this provision of housing.

Yes, I will do that. The action plan was submitted to and approved by Cabinet of the past government in August 2003, and then Minister Jake Ootes tabled a response in the House in October 2003. Now we’re talking about the planned development of the integrated arts strategy and we will articulate the implementation of that and I’ll make sure that all Members have a copy of that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the Member for bringing this question to the House and also for raising this prior to today with me. I’ve had a chance to discuss this with the department and, as the Member knows, our department is working with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to roll out this integrated arts strategy, and we are optimistic that by summer we will have this integrated arts strategy and be able to articulate our vision for meeting some of the gaps that we see in current arts support and development.

Thank you. Specific to the Hook Lake Wood Bison Recovery Project, that herd was developed and isolated to have a disease-free herd. I think we, as the Member indicates, have achieved that. The herd has grown nicely and we are now looking at a number of options going forward as to what the best approach might be here. I think it’s critical to point out that we have approached the community of Fort Resolution to work in conjunction with them. There are a number of options on the table. It's important, though, that we pursue an option that the community feels best suits their needs, and we're...

Yes, Mr. Speaker, the government does believe that this is a policy that provides benefit to the people of the Northwest Territories, has a validity and we certainly continue to support it. Thank you.

Thank you. My understanding is that the Housing Corporation approached Cabinet in the past Assembly and made the case that the provision of housing in non-market communities had to be done in the most cost-effective manner. They had concerns that this couldn’t be achieved with the BIP in place and asked Cabinet to direct that they be allowed to waive the BIP on this contract. Thank you.

No, Mr. Speaker. At this point there is no intention on the part of this government to change the business incentive policy. Of course, we would always listen to the suggestions of committee, should they suggest that we would consider it. But our feeling is at this point that we would not be proposing any change. Thank you.

Thank you. I will acknowledge that there are gaps in our support where the traditional economy is concerned, but I’d also like to highlight the fact that the Department of RWED does offer grants to small businesses. Arts and crafts businesses are absolutely eligible and do qualify and we have given grants in the past to the arts sector. In addition, we have the business development fund which provides contributions of up to $25,000 for a wide range of business needs. Arts businesses would obviously qualify, as well, here.

So I think we haven’t been excluding the arts and crafts sector. Can we...