Wally Schumann

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I have said, we are working with all departments, crossdepartmental, on how to move this initiative forward. Agricultural strategy is only getting tabled here. Hopefully in this session we are going to bring that forward and table that. It is part of our portfolio to diversify the economy of the Northwest Territories, and we believe that there is valid investment into it.

It has hit a roadblock on the Lands issue. We are going to work on that to try to get that alleviated so the people who want to go into superlarge commercial farming in the Northwest...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In the remaining life of this government, after this session is done and we get the budget passed, no, we will not be asking the BDIC for any more cuts. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, we would not be considering doing that right now. As I've said, we don't believe oil and gas is going to come back into the Northwest Territories for some time. The duties for this position, though, we believe will be carried forward by the client service and community relations division and ITI, which manages similar duties. So we believe that, if something does happen in the short-term, we will be able to fill that from internally. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's funny that he has asked that question because, as of lately, I have asked the ADM to reach out to the Manufacturers' Association because they haven't been in much contact with us with their association since last year, and I've asked her to reach out to see what we can do about facilitating at least an annual meeting and see what kind of a discussion we can have them then. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I just said, we are going to do what I said we are going to do. I have directed the department to have a look at it and, if there are some red flags, we will bring it forward and decide if we are going to do a review.

To get back to the earlier question that I got on this department earlier, grants and contributions has a number of initiatives and information on where this money, what sectors it is being spent on. My concern, as I said, is: are we doing this in an effective manner? This is the early stage of this. I am not saying that I would not do a full review of it...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. BDIC is working on their own corporate plan, but I believe that we have to table it before April 1st of this year in the House, so that will be coming forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, there is no new money, but one of the things that we did when you look at this budget moving forward, we have created a new division to help prop up the agriculture strategy, and we believe this is early days in this initiative and that's a good investment moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will turn that over to the director of finance. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Let's make it quite clear. They can't go forward with their corporate plan until the budget is passed in the Legislative Assembly for this next fiscal year, so that is tied to that. Once it is done and I approve it, then, whenever the next sitting is after the spring session, that is when we will be tabling it. I thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As we roll out this strategy and bring it to the House in this Assembly we're probably going to use internal resources to initially kick it off. As the Member said, there's a number of legislative things that need to be worked out to fully implement the strategy around the lands issue in particular in the Northwest Territories and we are working with other departments, Health and Social Services and ENR, on this initiative on how we're going to do that. At some point, I think as the thing gains traction in the next couple of years. I don't think this is something that's...