Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In a follow-up to my Member’s statement talking about small businesses and how we can support them, I have questions today for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Every year we go through our budget process and we give out close to $12 million in grants and contributions to businesses across the Northwest Territories, particularly Support to Entrepreneurs and Economic Development funding, SEED funding.
Has this funding been utilized every year to its maximum potential, and when was the last time the SEED funding increased? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The SEED program has been in place since 2008. We are currently reviewing the program. Also, we’ve added sectorial support through the SEED program for fine arts and crafts, the film sector and the Prospectors Grubstake Program as well. We certainly look forward to reviewing the program in an effort to try to make sure we have the best program to support small business here in the Northwest Territories. Our budget last year was just under $4 million. Thank you.
I’m glad to hear that the policy and the program are being reviewed. When you go on the website for ITI, you’ll notice there’s an online database that’s really helpful to businesses to get the funding they can access.
Under the section for grants and contributions – because we’ve heard today about the high cost of doing business, the high cost of power rates in some of the communities and we also heard earlier today that there is going to be an increase in the Minimum wage, so all this has an effect on the really small business, entrepreneurs in the communities – can any of this funding be accessed and used to offset some of the high cost of doing business such as power and some of the wages? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
There’s a provision under the SEED policy for emergency type funding that is included under entrepreneur support. However, this is not an ongoing subsidy and businesses would be considered on a case-by-case basis should they attempt to access support through that entrepreneurial support program. Thank you.
The emergency funding, I know it’s not supposed to be ongoing to help our businesses, but over the summer we had low water levels on the Mackenzie River which resulted in some businesses having to ship their materials by air, which increases the costs.
What is the total amount for this emergency fund and heard on a case-by-case basis? We’ve heard our population is decreasing; people are leaving. The economy is low, so what is the total cost of the emergency fund that businesses can access? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I will get the actual figure for the Member. I don’t have that with me today, but I will get that figure for the Member. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My last question is, over the years the cost of doing business continues to increase, so when we have these policies and programs in place since 2008, obviously in our government we handle the forced growth situation department by department.
Is there something in some of these grants that will allow these small businesses to reflect the forced growth that they see in their businesses? Is there some type of program with the SEED or other grants and contributions that we have? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Under the SEED program, currently we have entrepreneur support, sector support and also I mentioned earlier the emergency support for businesses on a case-by-case basis. But as we move to review the program in its entirety, I think some of the points the Member has made today would be good to be looked at.
There are a number of businesses across the Northwest Territories, as the Member indicates, that are incurring high utility costs and operating costs. Again, it’s important the government has the supports in place to support business in the Northwest Territories, and through this program we hope to do just that. We look forward to concluding the review in the near future. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Range Lake…Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
