Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do not envision BDIC going away. I have met with them a number of times. We have our fiveyear program review that is going to be taking place right now. We have met with them, and they are quite excited about doing that.

Times have changed since BDIC was incorporated, and the business community has changed significantly. We anticipate doing a review and coming back to committee on how we can see this thing operating in the future, going forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Main estimates, page 221, first line, Aboriginal Mineral Development Support Program, and then “other contributions,” as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Page 221.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Department of ITI is leading the working group on this thing. We will be having them monitor the evaluation that will be following every step of the way on this going forward so that we will be able to track all the progress on the program. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. First of all, I will update the House a little bit on Almod. I had a conversation with him. Maybe some Members don't realize that, when the hurricane season hit the Caribbean, he has a number of stores down there that got either totally wiped out or severely damaged. A number of his staff had their homes totally destroyed. In one particular case, he had staff guarding his safe where the whole building was gone, even though their house was totally wiped out. He had significant challenges over the course of the hurricane season. I still believe they continue to do so. They...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, we can certainly look at doing an initiative like that. Like I said, we'll post some numbers together on this pilot project that we did in the Blackstone there, in the Fort Simpson Territorial Park, and get some of that information to committee as well, too. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Member stated it was for marketing. This money is not for that. With the re-establishment of the Agricultural Products Marketing Council, which oversees the system in NWT and ensures that it’s arm's length and objective of the council, this money is for the operations of that council. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's the new Growing Forward equity that we're going to put forward for $188,000 and $145,000 for South Slave, the new fishery person that we're going to be moving there. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

This is ongoing. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. When the Member goes there, to the grants contribution page, and sees what we contributed to, that amount also came out of page 221 in the business plan. It is the very first line, Aboriginal Mineral Development Program, and then some of it came from Other Contributions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Last year, ITI alone supported the arts with $1.6 million in total. I will read them out if the Member wants to write them down: arts and crafts, fine arts and performing arts, support under the SEED program, $725,697; festival SEED, $294,471; raw materials, $125; film promotion, $311; regional programming, $125,000; and marketing and promotion, $106,000. Thank you, Mr. Chair.