Thank you. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the insight that the Minister has shared. I also appreciate that there's some focus from the department being paid attention to this. I think that it has lots of room to grow and improve.
One other thing: I also respect that there needs to be some degree of certainty with regard to immigrants providing investment, but maybe it does have to be a little bit more appealing. I appreciate that, other communities outside of Yellowknife, the investment might be $150,000 and Yellowknife is $300,000, but, if we are trying to compete with other jurisdictions around the country, then Yellowknife has got to be appealing, as well. Frankly, if Vancouver or the better part of BC is at $200,000, then, I would strongly suggest that the department should look at lowering Yellowknife's to be competitive.
One thing that I'm curious to learn a little bit more from the department, and tell me if I'm wrong in terms of what activity we're in, but I can't seem to find it anywhere else, and that is, what is the role of ITI as it relates to its support for the knowledge-based economy? I respect that this is a multi-departmental undertaking, but certainly ITI is going to play an integral role as it relates to the development of our knowledge-based economy. It's a critical piece to diversification. I know it's again a relatively new initiative to our mandate, but I'd like to learn from the department what kind of investment that we're going to make in bringing on a knowledge-based economy and having it lead to diversifying the economy? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Mr. Jensen.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think it's fair to say that at this time with respect to the knowledge economy and innovation as it relates to the knowledge economy across the Northwest Territories government that we're very much in a forming stage right now. We have a number of projects that are going on that are going to benefit, say, for example, from the new fibre optic network. For example, the Inuvik satellite station is a place where we can start to look at a cluster of activities around the fact that that data will be downloaded. So other departments that we are connected with will have a project on a geoscience project. Geospatial data project, I think it was canvassed with the Minister of Finance. There is a project that has been moved forward on there.
Right now, I would say we've got projects. Other departments are looking at research facilities, but I think, to be honest with you, it's fair to say that we don't actually have a focus right now in ITI that is looking specifically at the innovation and knowledge agenda. What I will say is that, certainly within the department, we are seeing that there's activity. We see that there is a capacity with the fibre optic, and we're now looking at if there's a way that we can look at building a framework. What does the knowledge economy actually mean in the Northwest Territories? What do we mean when we are looking? What kinds of things need to happen in a geographic area like this, in the North? What do we bring to the table in terms of a knowledge economy? At the end of the day, knowledge economy is about creating knowledge, a new knowledge, but it's also about getting that to a marketplace where it's commodified, so it's actually an economy. I think it's fair to say that we're in the very early days of that, but it's very much on our radar in terms of what we'd like to do working across departments as part of economic diversification. We don't have a specific budget item for that at this time, either.
Thank you. Mr. Vanthuyne?
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the deputy minister for his reply. I appreciate and I indicated in my comments that we kind of are in early stages. If that's the case and we're both recognizing that, then I think it's also important that we take the next steps in developing that, making a fairly serious commitment and investment to developing the broader scopes of what's expected in an NWT knowledge economy. I also forewarn that we don't have to look for perfection, either. Take small tiny steps. There are a lot of avenues that we can start to go down and invest in prior to knowing and understanding what the big picture is.
I gave a couple of examples just the other day, just very small ones, when I spoke in the House in a Member's statement about maybe a young woman in a remote community developing an app, and that app would teach her traditional language to the world because the app is downloadable. I talked about a young man being able to learn from an elder about traditional teepee building, and then using those skills as a motivator to maybe become an engineer or an architect that might go on to build housing that respects modern technology as well as traditional Indigenous lifestyles. Those are things that we can do now. We don't have to wait to and reinvent the wheel on a knowledge-based economy to contribute to those kinds of things. I'd like to see us make a commitment in that regard as soon as we possibly can. For this activity right now, Mr. Chair, that's all I have for questions. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Next, Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm just following up on my honourable friend's comments on the knowledge economy. I'm just wondering what programs the department has to support innovation in the Northwest Territories? I know there is significant effort and money available in the federal government across all provinces and territories for innovation. Do we have any innovation projects or strategies in the works? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Between the two Members, the comments that are stated, moving forward we might have a specific line item for the knowledge economy, but those things could be supported through the SEED initiative. I agree, the knowledge economy is in its early stages. I've been to the innovation table with Minister Bains, and they're working on their initiatives moving forward. We're trying to find what we can do to line up with the federal mandate to take best advantage of that. We have a number of things that are working right now. I think we have to figure out as a territorial government how we're going to pull a knowledge economy all together under one roof, I guess I would say, and which department would take the lead on that because there are so many different initiatives and different things that could be spread out amongst different departments. I think this is one of the ones that we as a government has to have a serious look at and have one department lead this program. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I appreciate that this is a relatively emerging section of our economy, and it's not something that we traditionally thought of as a strength, but I don't want to see this department be in a position where it's waiting for the knowledge economy to come about organically, and that it's actually finding ways to stimulate knowledge economy, investments and development, and an innovation strategy that rewards private sector investment in innovative solutions. I think it dovetails quite well in the coming reality of carbon pricing and green economy solutions to Northern mining and manufacturing. I guess I just want to leave that as a comment. Let's build it so it's present in our economy, we're not waiting for it to catch up, because innovators will move to jurisdictions that support innovation, and that will be my final word on that, and I will invite the Minister to comment on it.
I did want to just discuss the BDIC as the next point. There is quite a substantial cut being proposed to BDIC, around just over $900,000. Is this a one-time deduction? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is a phase 2 reduction of $925,000. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister, I believe he was asking if this was an ongoing cut, or is this a one-time cut? Thank you.
This is ongoing. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Testart.
Thank you. The last budget, there was a cut in that budget to BDIC. Now, we're seeing a second year of cuts. Is this an ongoing reduction to the BDIC? Are there going to be future-year cuts moving forward, or is this the final round of cuts to BDIC? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Ongoing from this point forward. After this, I don't anticipate that happening. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Testart.
Thank you. Again, we have seen the significant cuts to the BDIC over the last two budgets. What is the longterm vision for the BDIC? Are we developing the new strategic plan? Are we just going to reduce the overall financial resources they have to use and transfer the support into the department itself? There are a lot of rumours on the ground, but the Minister could put some of that to rest with a clear vision for the future of the corporation. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do not envision BDIC going away. I have met with them a number of times. We have our fiveyear program review that is going to be taking place right now. We have met with them, and they are quite excited about doing that.
Times have changed since BDIC was incorporated, and the business community has changed significantly. We anticipate doing a review and coming back to committee on how we can see this thing operating in the future, going forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My understanding from stakeholder engagement is that the program review is not really the issue. Most clients are satisfied with the level of service of the programs the BDIC offers. The issue the government seems to take is the operational side, that the appropriation to BDIC is in excess of what it needs to do its job. Is the Minister also undertaking an operational review to restructure the corporation to be more costeffective? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The program review will look at the operations review, but we are building a terms of reference, and we will probably share that with committee once we have them done. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have spoken about this before, but BDIC performs an important role in supporting businesses in the Northwest Territories, providing advice to those companies and those individuals who are interested in getting involved and, of course, through its lending programs.
Looking at the information item, which is included later in the business review, on page 227, we see some of their operating results, and they seem to generate a significant amount of surplus. My understanding is that they cannot access that surplus under the terms of the current legislation. Is the Minister planning to do anything about that? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is one of the things that we are looking at, and the Member is onto it. There is money that they can use right now for certain things and money that they cannot. That would be the proposed legislation, once we do the review, that we would want to come back to the Assembly and change so that they could do that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Testart.
That money the Minister just referred to or those financial resources, does the BDIC have access to those own-source revenues, essentially, to plug the gap that has been created by successive years of cuts to their appropriation? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes. Right now, they have access to their excess gas for operations. We would have to come forward for the legislative change to be able to use the interests. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Testart.
Thank you. The legislative change that is required, when does the Minister anticipate bringing that forward?
Thank you. Minister.
The MayJune session. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Testart.
Thank you. The Minister also mentioned a program review and that the review would help identify the need to change legislation and other issues. Is the review going to be completed before the legislation comes forward in May and June? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The regulations that we want to come forward in the MayJune sessions, the regulations have not been updated for a long time; we want to be able to make this change so that they can use that going forward. As far as the program review and the operations of that, we don't need to have that done to be able to do that, so they can continue to operate. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Testart.
Regulations and legislation are of course different. I am just wondering: are we talking about legislative change or regulatory change? The Minister can change the regulations today if he wanted to. Can the Minister clarify? Thank you.
Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We were talking about the act. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am satisfied that the BDIC will have the resources they need to continue to do its work, but it strikes me as odd that we have done two years of cuts now to BDIC without a program review and without passing legislation to allow them to do things. It just seems like the cuts are coming ahead of other work that needs to get done, and the Minister is, in fact, relying on these program reviews and legislation in order to continue to support the operations of BDIC.
It just seems odd that, again, we are cutting first and fixing the cuts afterwards. It seems like those things should have been done first, but we will see where this goes. Thank you.
