Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank a couple of the Pages from Hay River North, Ms. Charlotte Buth and Ms. Josee Touesnard, who have been here with us all week. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to start by recognizing a constituent, David Wasylciw. I would also like to recognize our new mayor, Rebecca Alty, who went through the Women's Campaign School. I would also like to recognize Nicole Latour, who actually helped facilitate one of our campaign schools. Campaign schools for women work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to recognize a couple of Pages in the Assembly from Inuvik. We have Amber Lennie-Ipana and we have Kyra Buckle, who are both from Inuvik. I would like to thank them for the work they do, plus all the Pages for the work they do, looking after the Members. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize Mr. Ernie Bernhardt. Mr. Bernhardt has been one of the founders of the Northern Games in Arctic Sports and he has been an avid coach during Arctic sports through all the Arctic Winter Games and the Northern Games and the Circumpolar Games around the Arctic. Ernie, thank you for your traditional knowledge and what you bring to the games year after year.
I would also like to recognize the mayor-elect, Ms. Rebecca Alty, and also everyone else in the gallery. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise to acknowledge the life of Yellowknife North resident, Dusty Miller, who left us last summer at age 99.
Miller was the last remaining Veteran of WWII living in Yellowknife. He and his wife raised four children in the north, and served the Royal Canadian Legion for sixty years. He was a familiar face at Remembrance Day ceremonies, and recipient of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013 for community service.
Members, please join me in applauding and acknowledging the life and contributions of Dusty Miller. Thank you.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. The tourism industry, as we know, continues to grow, and spending more money on product diversification makes sense, but the budget for this program is over-subscribed and it is now currently unavailable. What is the Minister's plan to increase investment in this vital program? Mahsi.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, ITI has to work within the constraints of the budgetary process and the money that we are allocated. We have had a serious look at the SEED Program. This House knows that. We looked at it last year. We have changed things around to try to make things better for entrepreneurs by changing certain parameters around programs and having regional supports. We will continue to do that within the budget that we have. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As I understand that answer, two points are prominent. One is that it is our fault for not asking, and the other is that SEED is the alternative. Are those, in fact, the case?
I will get used to standing up today here. Yes, she could take some of the blame if she wants, the Member, for not asking. The budgetary process is done by all Members of this House, and we know how it is allocated. The budget that ITI has, that is what I have to prescribe to. I can make my case as we go through these deliberations with my Cabinet Members, but there is only so much money to go around for the whole Northwest Territories. That is what I have been allocated, and that is what I will continue to work with.
As the Minister knows, the Tourism 2020 plan is moving towards expiry. I am interested to know what work is taking place now to create Tourism 2025.
Yes, 2020 is coming due, and we have made successful milestones. As all Members of this House know, we have already achieved probably what we wanted to there as far as number of tourists coming to the Northwest Territories and the amount of money spent in the NWT. We will continue to work on that. We will probably be releasing some of those numbers shortly, of last year's visitations and money spent in the NWT, and I think most Members will be happy.
We will be working closely with all proponents, being us and Members of this House, for feedback, as well as NWT Tourism to develop 2025. I just came back from an FPT on tourism, so I have some new information that was presented to us from various proponents across the country of challenges around tourism right across the country that we will try to implement in our new strategy as well.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have seen incredible growth in tourism during the period of the Tourism 2020 plan, and this sector of our economy needs more support than it currently gets. My question for the Minister is: will the new plan include more money for both community investment and product development than the current plan has? Thank you.
We are a victim of our own success. I have said that in this House before. Build it, and they will come. That is what happened around tourism, and that is what is happening particularly in the region of Yellowknife.
The numbers are increasing every year. There are all kinds of challenges around that, but as we move forward with the 2025 plan, we are going to have to have deliberations around budgets and stuff, and I am going to have the make the case going forward for what tourism needs in the Northwest Territories. I will have to make the case in a significant way that the Finance Minister and Cabinet Members will divvy up the money accordingly. This is a priority for the Government of the Northwest Territories for all of the Members in this House, and we will pursue that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is good to see that we have gotten into a discussion around ITI's available funding for entrepreneurs. I want to talk about the SEED program.
The Minister has spoken about increasing the funding criteria for entrepreneurs, but the Minister didn't actually make more funding dollars available, which means that the complete allocation is being spent, but fewer businesses are receiving funding. In fact, the funding for agriculture, film, and manufacturing strategies have been taking it out of the SEED program. They don't represent new funding. When is the Minister going to put new funding into this program and start to grow the economy even more than we have already managed to achieve? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I have mentioned, there is only so much money that this government has. We have our processes and deliberations on how we want to spend that money, and everyone in this House is included. This is what I have been allocated, and I will continue to fight for more money for my department, but as the Member quite knows, there is not enough money to go around for everything this government wants to achieve. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It seems that, when we have an immediate need, we can find the money. We can find money for barges; $16 million conjured out of thin air. I wonder if the Minister can answer this question: does he think it is acceptable that available funding for entrepreneurs is running out within two to three months of the fiscal year?
This money is to help entrepreneurship. It is not to support a business and keep them in business. This is to help support business. Let's make it quite clear. Businesses are an entrepreneurial-driven thing. The Government of the Northwest Territories is not in the business of being in business. Let's make that very clear.
I am one of the few people in this House who is a businessperson. My whole life, I have been a businessperson. I understand this file probably better than anyone in this House. Yes, some of these programs are stretched to their limit, but we only have so much money. What do you want me to do? Do you want me to just print money? I can't print money. If you want us to put more money into this program, I will need the support of committee; I need the support of Members on this side of the House and the residents of the Northwest Territories.
I would like to caution to the Members that the last question was asking the Minister's opinion. Be careful around that area. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be cautious around the Minister's opinions. The statements he is making around not having enough funding, I mean, he sounds more like a deputy minister than a Minister, but is the Minister prepared to make a submission to the Financial Management Board during the next round of budget deliberations to increase the available SEED funding?
I can make that submission. That is not an issue. I have already brought up the issue around the shortfall of funding from our department. We will make our case, and I will continue to do that. When it comes time to deliberate the next budget and when I have a look at the data from the SEED program, I will certainly make that decision at that point.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The data is old news. We have all known that this program is oversubscribed. I know the Minister said he can make the submission; will he make that submission, based on the debate we are having right now, and based on what he already knows, that this program is oversubscribed? Will the Minister make that submission? Yes or no? Thank you.
As I have said, I will have a look at the information when this comes up in the next budget session and make that decision going forward. I am going to have to have a hard look at this, and the Member has to have a look at this. If we are going to put more money into the SEED program, which would be great for myself, it has to come from somewhere within this House. Do you want to take it from Health? Do you want to take it from Social Services? Where do you want to take it from? Maybe the Member can give me that feedback back. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I liked the Minister's earlier statement there: build it, and they will come. Mr. Speaker, this is Small Business Week, and I appreciate the Minister's words about small business in his statement today. I would, however, like to ask the Minister some questions about the government's support for small business in the Sahtu region. Can the Minister give me examples of how ITI is supporting businesses in the Sahtu? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I highlighted in my statement today, we have spent $17.6 million with the government this last year to help support individuals and businesses and governments and groups across the economic sector.
In his particular riding, we have spent $1.6 million, but at the same time, we realized that there was a downturn with Line 21 being shut down and a lot of pressure on the small businesses in that Member's riding. We have worked very closely to realign those businesses and what they need to do. They have to target different products, services, and customers. As such, the department has worked very closely with them.
This coming week, I think it is this coming week, the Department of ITI is going out to communities outside the Member's riding of Norman Wells to all of his smaller communities, and we are going to have an information session about how to start a small business in his region. Staff is there to assist them. In particular, our department also takes great pride in small communities in how we support and strengthen the traditional economy. We want to meet with all eligible trappers and what type of assistance is available for them, as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
That leads me to my next question. The Minister mentioned the SEED program, or the SEED policy. The government's mandate for the 18th Assembly commits to updating SEED programs to better align themselves with the needs of entrepreneurial and small business owners. Can the Minister provide an update on this work?
As I said earlier in my statements, we had a look at the SEED program and we realized that there were some pressures on it, and rising costs around some of these things. We got feedback from a number of NWT businesses, so we looked at changing this up. Our budget still is $3.86 million. That is what we talked about earlier already today, and that hasn't changed at all.
What has changed is individual applicants have increased for most of our programs, so one of the changes that we made is the individual contribution under the entrepreneurs stream. The entrepreneurs support stream has increased from $15,000 to $25,000. Individual contributions available under the business intelligent networking stream have increased from $3,000 to $4,000, and entrepreneurs capped out on their contribution under the micro-business stream are now eligible to reapply in three years instead of five years.
We are also piloting a strategic investment stream in 2017 that we have renewed for this year which allows one-time contributions up to $75,000 for individuals to meet criteria based on the mandate of increasing economic growth and diversity.
My next question is: the government's mandate also commits to implementing the economic opportunities strategy. That's not something we have heard about lately. Can the Minister update the House on this work?
In fact, we were planning and providing the Members an update on this later in the session, but I'm happy to share some information right now with Members. The reason the Member hasn't heard about the economic opportunities strategy is because most of the recommendations that were made in that document become part of our mandate, and we've talked about the work as this mandate commitments. In fact, the strategy's 117 recommendations now have been addressed, and more than 70 per cent have resulted in ongoing improvements and initiatives by our government. We have begun to work investment and revitalize the Great Slave fishing industry. We are implementing the Northwest Territories immigration strategy 2017-2022. We are advancing a Northwest Territories agriculture strategy with new funding and partnership. We're developing a manufacturing strategy. Thanks to the rebate program, our film sector is thriving and generating benefits from many of our sectors of our economy.
Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question is around the role of BDIC. It is also to be a developmental leader and to flow funding to the Northwest Territories' businesses, and that is needed most. Like the small communities in my riding, what is the GNWT doing to ensure that the BDIC provides the best value to the NWT? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
BDIC is a valuable contributor to the NWT economy. One of the things that has come up in this Assembly is the BDIC Act. It has a program review written into it every five years, and that's what we're doing right now. We're having a serious look at that. ITI is leading that work along with BDIC and its stakeholders. That work will continue, and I think most Members have a bit of an understanding of it because they have been briefed on it. The terms of reference have been finalized already, and we've shared them with standing committee. It has three main focuses, and they are: they will consider how well BDIC has achieved its objectives over the last five years; they will include an environmental scan to identify future challenges and market conditions; and consider what services and programs BDIC should have in place for the future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, every day the Minister gets up, has his coffee, and looks across the river. Has the Minister of Infrastructure ever driven the access road to the Hay River reserve? If not, I invite him to do so, so that he can see for himself what my constituents have to endure on a daily basis. Mahsi.
