Mr. Speaker, my questions are to the Minister of Finance. The loan that one of the Members was mentioning is with Discovery Air. With our small government and with so many demands that we’ve heard in the last couple of years, especially in the last couple of months, especially in our small communities, why are we willing to risk $34 million on a high-risk loan to a company which indications show through financial reports was close to bankruptcy? Why did we do this?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This fund is a federal Immigrant Investor Fund. We have an agreement with the federal government. We have agreed to back that guarantee, all the money in that fund. So any money that we lend, we have to be prepared to repay. This is not a grant fund. This is not a low-risk, low-value fund. We’re accountable for every cent. So we have the opportunity here. Due diligence indicated to us that it was, in fact, a tolerable risk that we’re prepared to take, given these tight economic times. The value added that it brought to the Territory is a good investment: $13 million in interest, or so; the jobs and the families and the headquarters moving north. The fund still exists. It’s for applications over $2 million. Below $2 million we have the BDIC fund, which is there for the specific purposes of working for small businesses in communities. Thank you.
Just on the due diligence that was done, due diligence was paid by Discovery Air. This is a loan that I think we should discuss with the Government of the Northwest Territories. This company is located in London, Ontario. The acquisition of loan is to pay out in Quebec. The Calgary helicopter base is closed.
My question to the Minister is, what are we really getting out of this high-risk move in terms of people in the Northwest Territories that see this $34 million bailout, investment, loan, whatever we call it? What are we really getting out of this high-risk move for the people in the Northwest Territories in our small communities?
Mr. Speaker, the due diligence was done by independent third parties that the Government of the Northwest Territories picked. The bill was sent as part of the deal to Discovery Air to pick up that tab, that they were hired by us and work for us. That was part of the arrangement.
What we get out of this, Mr. Speaker, in a very tight economic situation where we’ve had slowdowns at the mines, layoffs at Laurelton Diamond polishers. What we have is assistance and a good business investment to a business that has a strong name and presence and employs hundreds of people, that has business arrangements up and down the valley, that’s going to bring some jobs to the North -- value-added in those ways -- a helicopter school, which runs during the summer months as well. When we looked at all the pieces in the context that we currently are in, the decision was made that this was a good investment. Thank you.
Certainly, I can argue for a lot of good business in the Northwest Territories that could certainly be welcomed to see this type of Opportunities Fund to come to their availability to talk about jobs, employment. These are home-grown, northern aboriginal people in our regions that would certainly welcome this type of opportunity. My question is, are there any other proposals in play for accessing this Opportunities Fund? If so, what processes are involved that require Regular Members on this side to have some of their consultation, decision, input in terms of this new policy? Certainly, this didn’t happen with Discovery Air and that’s why this deal doesn’t look very good of what they’re hearing in the public.
There are some proposals that I understand are there. I’m not aware of any firm one currently being considered at this point. The intention, as we have moved from the passive to an active fund, is to make sure that the policies and procedures that used to guide that passive approach are updated to reflect a more active role we want to take, and the fact that the money that’s there, how do we make sure that it’s best put to use in a secure way that’s going to make sure that we can repay what the federal government is going to give us. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Part of the requirements, I understand that a society has to be set up to manage and administrate the funds here. My understanding from ITI, the Honourable Robert McLeod, was in terms of the revisions of a policy that would look at...Would the policy look at forming a society as part of the directors? Would you see directors being involved in the input? Can we see some regional input in terms of the society?
Mr. Speaker, the funds that previously existed -- Aurora I and II, I understand -- had a more arm’s-length board structure. In this case, given the passive nature of the fund, we will take a look at the structure as well as the move of adjusting the policies that are there for the passive approach, bringing them into line with the reactive approach. The issue of the board structure has not been finally dealt with. We do have the current structure at this point to keep us going in the interim. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
