Thanks, Mr. Chair. We are spending money in 2016-17 to support the Film Rebate Program? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It didn’t match up with anything on the page, so, but it’s continuing. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Okay. The Growing Forward 2 funding, can anybody with the Minister or staff explain whether NFTI, the Northern Farm Training Institute, actually got any support in 2015-16 and how much? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. We are discussing pages 240 and 241. Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. NFTI did receive funding. The federal government provided $2 million in funding through CanNor to undertake this project, and ITI contributed $200,000. In addition to this funding, ITI has provided another $120,000 in Growing Forward 2 and SEED funding directly to NFTI since 2014. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. NFTI would continue to be eligible for Growing Forward 2 funding and perhaps something under the Northern Food Development Program? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Minister.
That’s correct, Mr. Chair, as long as there’s funding available in those pots. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I’m just not quite sure how the funding works for these two programs. Is it distributed through the regions, the regional offices, or is it done through headquarters and how does an organization like NFTI apply for this funding? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. All of the funding in those programs are in the regions. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair, I appreciate the answer. I think that’s part of the issue is, as I understand it from NFTI’s perspective, is that when they want to support work that’s actually building capacity within the regions they have to make a whole bunch of different applications to different regional offices to support people coming in to their facility and getting training and then going back and building capacity in their own regions and communities. Is there any other kind of model or approach we could consider here to help support this organization? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The funding is in the region; we believe the regions know best who to support. There’s a number of different models we can follow. We could centralize all the money in Yellowknife and we can make those decisions, and I’m sure there’s other models as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Look, I’m not suggesting that the money be centralized in Yellowknife but obviously if a small non-profit has to make a number of applications to different regions to support work and building capacity there that creates an administrative burden on a small NGO. Is this something that the department has considered and what sort of solutions might there be? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We think the current model works quite well. The region knows best who to support. The regions support individuals to attend NFTI. As I said, there’s other models; we could centralize it in Hay River and have them provide all the funding. But we don’t see it as a problem for having to apply to a number of different pots. Actually, I think it works quite well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Well, while the department may not see it as a problem as I understand from NFTI they do have a problem. They spend a lot of time and effort in trying to apply to the different regions for pots of money and there’s some administrative burden involved in filling out different application forms, trying to talk to different regional offices about status of applications and so on. I’m going to leave it at that, but I hope the department would try to find a way to make sure that we can better promote agriculture and support this institution in building capacity in the regions. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Would the Minister like to respond?
Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess it’s the first I heard that NFTI had some problems. We’re prepared to go and talk to them. If applications are submitted on a timely basis there’s usually no problem. We’ll follow up with NFTI and see exactly what the problem is then. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Anything further, Mr. O’Reilly?
No thanks, Mr. Chair, and I appreciate the commitment of the Minister to follow up with NFTI and try to find a way to streamline or improve support for agriculture. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. I have no one further on my list so we can proceed to the next page, page 242. Economic diversification and business support, active positions. Comments? Questions? Mr. O’Reilly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There’s a reduction in two positions here and can the Minister or staff tell us whether those are vacant positions and what they are and so on? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Minister.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. There was internal reallocation of one position from MPR to MPI, and there’s one reduction in an economic development officer position. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Yes, thanks Mr. Chair. I’m not sure how to approach this because I’ve asked, and now this will be third time I’ve asked for information to be compiled about staffing changes that are presented in the budget and we still don’t have it. We’ve just finished the Housing Corp. In any event, I’ve asked twice now different Ministers, the Finance Minister, the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, if we could get this information consolidated. I believe it’s impeding my ability as an MLA to be able to review the budget. I asked over 10 days ago now, I believe, for this information, I still don’t have it, and I don’t understand what the problem is in producing it. Now that I’ve got the Premier here I’ll ask if they can undertake to provide this information to us to help us review the budget department by department. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess it is the first I heard of it. If the committee wants information in that fashion, we will endeavour to do so. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I have raised this twice now. This is the third time. I would really appreciate having the information as soon as possible to help us review departmental budgets. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thanks Mr. O’Reilly. Any additions to that? Mr. Minister.
No, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Additional questions on page 242? Seeing none, we shall move on to 244. Go back. 239. Industry, Tourism and Investment, economic diversification and business support, operations expenditure summary, total activity, $21,087,000. Mr. O’Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. On this page, program detail, it says other program costs, there are $17 million in there. I think I understand what it is, but it would be much more helpful if that could be split out in some way. We are talking about economic diversification and business support. To have $17 million sort of lumped together is not really very helpful for the public or Regular MLAs in understanding how we are actually investing that money. Could I ask the Minister if he and his staff could undertake in the future to provide an actual breakdown here, so we could see what sort of funding is provided to agriculture, arts and crafts, traditional economy, film industry, some of the things that we see in the contribution side, but presumably there is some program support dollars that go along with the contribution money, unless I am not really understanding things very well? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I believe that, through the budgeting process, normally we review the process with committee to see how it can be improved on, including the reporting and detail. My understanding is that is available. That is an exercise that is done on an annual basis. My understanding is that this is a template that all departments use. Certainly, if the committee feels that we should break it out into finer detail, we are quite prepared to do so. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Anything further? Mr. O’Reilly.
Yes. Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am asking for a breakdown similar to the description on page 238 where it says, “Specific programs support arts and fine crafts, agriculture, fisheries, trapping and commercial game harvesting.” That kind of a breakdown if that is helpful at all. That, I think would be a reasonable thing to look at, rather than a $17 million investment in a whole number of different areas. But, Mr. Chair, I do have one other question here. It is about the money for the diamond secondary industry. Can the Minister or his staff explain what we are actually getting for the $617,000 that we spend on that? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O’Reilly. The 17 other program costs, that is noted as a request for detail. We will move on to the upper programs, $617,000 as requested by Mr. O’Reilly. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We do have a diamond division, I guess if I could call it that, that includes three people that work with the diamond industry promoting value added and also promoting the brands of the diamonds in the Northwest Territories. We are involved with marketing, and we also keep track of the trends in the diamond industry. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O’Reilly.
