Wally Schumann

To answer the Member's question, we will need to obtain the technical information from the office of the regulator of the oil and gas operations, and, as such, I'll have to take this question as notice. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As a government, we're always looking at how to maximize local and Northern content in all contracts and procurement in the Northwest Territories, and we will continue to review our policies and stuff moving forward to maximize that.

A couple of things that we do use already to help maximize local involvement is the BIP Policy; that gives someone local and northern content to give you a little leverage over anyone else, and also the Northern Manufacturing Policy has a whole different set of rules around it to help people purchase northern manufactured products in NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm glad to answer this question, because before I got elected to the 18th Legislative Assembly I helped move the manufacturing group together and get lobby together to how we can make things better within the GNWT and working with the manufacturers. Currently, the department is working with the Manufacturers' Association in updating their marketing plan moving forward, with a goal to help them promote their products both within the Northwest Territories and within industry and this is something that we are working on.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table to following two documents entitled "20162017 Corporate Plan, NWT Business Development and Investment Corporation" and "20152016 Annual Report, NWT Business Development and Investment Corporation." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have committed in our mandate to develop and propose amendments to the Oil and Gas Operations Act and the Petroleum Resources Act. These acts are currently mirrored on the federal government that was in place prior to devolution, but, moving forward, we are currently in the early stages and we will be seeking input from MLAs and others for information on this process. The public review process, when it happens, will be the opportunity that we must use to identify and address those in areas of concern and priority of NWT residents.

I guess the other thing I'd like to...

Yes, small business is in decline in the Northwest Territories and probably right across Canada in most jurisdictions as the economy has been in a downturn for quite a while. There are lots of challenges facing northern businesses. People are shopping online, people are going south to stretch their dollars as much as they can, but what is the department doing to correct this trend?

We have a number of programs that we're trying to do to help small businesses in the Northwest Territories, from the SEED Program, to marketing their programs, to assisting them with financing and stuff as such. We...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Film, video, and digital media are at the centre of a growing and dynamic industry in the NWT, driving both cultural and economic opportunities and contributing almost $9.7 million to the NWT's GDP.

This sector also provides opportunities for employment and selfemployment with an estimated 24 film companies and 106 fulltime equivalent jobs existing in the NWT today. Most NWT film producers operate as sole proprietorships and face the same challenges as small or microbusinesses, writing their own proposals, selfmarketing, and handling administrative tasks in addition to...

If we were to get into a situation where the Louis be serviced in the region, we do have the backup area that the Member alluded to in his Member’s statement that we could probably put in the water and bring into service to meet the emergency needs of that, and then in the long-term, if that was the case, if something drastically happened to the boat, we'd have to look at the long-term plans of how we're going to replace one of these units. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, I will have a look at that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

I just had to clarify in my head what your whole question was. ATCO is a big outfit and they do have a lot of money, but the problem moving forward for this government is that - it's not the money it's our borrowing capacity moving forward. We need to have engagement with the federal government. If we decide to expand the Taltson Project, we need to have a buyer at the end of the day. This government is engaged in consultation or conversations with other end users who will purchase this power and to do that at the end of the day we believe that the Taltson project is going to require a subsidy...