Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, let me see if perhaps the deputy minister might have that the number in terms of the positions oh well, we do have. Six positions right now, Mr. Chair, in the PRO office. As for whether they are filled, again let me see if the deputy has that information. If not, we'll get back to the Member. Thank you.

 Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, certainly have an obligation, as I see it, to not any one single company but to the market as a whole, and I certainly only read the decision very briefly today. Would want to ensure that, really, that the CRTC is fully aware of the nature of our economy, of the nature of the business environment here. That is exactly the kind of thing we want to be speaking to. And so in that regard, more than happy to meet with the local players to ensure that anything that comes from government reflects and properly balances the interests. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And certainly we'll commit to make sure we can provide the breakdown. I'm not sure if it's in the schedules for sure or not. I don't need to read it out here.

And as for an increase to the northern food development program, again, at this point, our understanding is that it is actually meeting needs. This isn't a program that's necessarily oversubscribed. But I'll certainly take that comment back and just confirm with the department that that continues to be the case. It certainly was from 20222023 until now. Thank you.

Sorry. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Community futures. The community futures organizations.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, it's not core funding, and let me just preempt the question. They did not get any 2.2 percent inflationary increase. As for what this is going to be used for, I'll ask the deputy minister to speak to that, please.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the Department of Finance does maintain the relationship with the CRTC through the office of the information or the Office of the Chief Information Officer so that is the reason that the question was more appropriate to go to here. I certainly can't commit any other Member of Cabinet, certainly let alone the Premier, to signing any letters. That said, Madam Speaker, I'm certainly happy to say that it would be within the Department of Finance to put together some sort of letter to comment upon or to express some concern that there may be around this...

Mr. Chair, there is just one that is operating on its own. Its I believe in Hay River, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I am a huge fan of the makerspaces as well. I know that the makerspace here in Yellowknife has done a lot with an initial investment from ITI. In fact, I think I'm meeting with them for an update tomorrow because they are continuing to see an expansion of their programs. I can say, very frankly, the thing that I've heard from them as to what their success has been, as well as in Inuvik what the challenges they're seeing, is having a local champion, someone who also believes in the program as much as the Member and I do. We can provide those dollars...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, that's correct. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair yeah, I mean at this point we'd like to get through 20232024's budget before I have a hope about what might happen in 20242025.

But with respect to film, we certainly did see this was an area where we are seeing a significant amount of growth, both in terms of local production but also in terms of the amount of films that are coming and scouting locations. This was actually an area that saw a lot challenge in COVID because people couldn't travel into the territories even though they were asking. They were looking to come and get ready to film so that they'd be...