Tom Beaulieu

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I move that this committee defer further consideration of the estimates for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment at this time. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This has got me confused. Did the Minister say there were 14 positions in -- okay. According to this there was a huge increase in the amount of positions. I wonder if the Minister would like to clarify what he means by 14 positions? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I was looking for a bit of clarification on an item here on page 206 on the expenditure category on compensation and benefits over the past two fiscal years, gone down slightly from almost $10 million down to $9.6 million down to $8.3 million, but the positions are exactly the same. I was wondering what the difference is? If we are still paying 58 people benefits and compensation, why is there such a big drop in the amount? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think that such a program would be greatly welcomed by people in small businesses trying to hire summer students for the various jobs that they do. I think that I could help the Minister of HR take a look at the vacancy rate if you're looking for money to hire summer students. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm very pleased to hear that. I'd like to ask the Minister: what is the strategy of working with the other departments? I know that it has always been a difficult task to give to one Minister when all Ministers are responsible for their own hiring, or the departments are responsible for their own hiring of summer students. I want to know if the Minister has any coordinated plan with all departments on the hiring of summer students.

Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as Regular Members in the House, we are in the process of asking government to put more money into the anti-poverty movement. Today, the Minister of Health had laid out all of the work this government is doing to combat poverty; however, most of those initiatives had been there for years, and we will have a very high percentage of people in poverty in the Northwest Territories, Mr. Speaker.

I wanted to get up quickly after the speech that the Minister of Health and Social Services made to respond to it quickly because I don’t want people to believe that $438...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I'm wondering if the review is going to include the community portion of BIP? Right now there's certainly an advantage for NWT BIP companies over southern companies; I should say, it sort of evens the playing field between North and South, but I'm wondering if the Minister is also looking at the difference between North and local? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, a quick check, I guess: under this economic diversification and business support is there an opportunity to speak on the Business Incentive Policy?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, during my travels into my riding, there have been many occasions when individuals have asked for support to get into some sort of economic development. I have the program SEED, Support Entrepreneurial and Economic Development. The budget hasn't grown, in fact, compared the last fiscal year that that has been closed off. It's gone down a bit. Not a whole lot, but 70-some-thousand dollars. I'm wondering if this program is fully subscribed or if there's money left after the SEED Program is delivered? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I just have a couple of questions for the Minister. I attended something with the Minister or the Minister was making a speech about Community Futures. There was an indication there that Community Futures was a program that had tremendous leveraging abilities. I'm wondering why the budget has dropped? As slight as it is, if it has great leveraging possibilities, why is this budget going down slightly? Thank you, Mr. Chair.