Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. It goes back to my Member’s statement where I talked about the future of the delivery and provision of business services here in the Northwest Territories.
Since I became a Member in 2003 this has been an issue. During the business plan review last fall the Department of ITI commented in their business plan that they were interested in a one-window service delivery model, something that’s been talked about for a number of years. I’d like to ask the Minister when exactly the department will have a presentation in front of committee to have a look at this service delivery model.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is the first indication I’ve heard from the Member that he wanted a presentation to the standing committee, but we’re quite prepared to present at the committee’s convenience.
For obvious reasons that I cited in my Member’s statement -- the lack of business start-ups, creation, the lack of any real economic diversification in our economy -- I think that time is of the essence that the department and the government move on this. I’d like to ask the Minister what the future is of the Business Development Investment Corporation in the rollout of this new plan.
I guess I’m a bit surprised at the Member’s line of questioning since he was involved with developing legislation for BDIC and also the standing committee was consulted extensively in setting up the SEED program, which I think is working very well.
I guess whether it’s working really well or not, if less than a third of the overall funding of the SEED program is actually going into businesses, then it’s debatable whether or not that’s actually working. I’d like to ask the Minister -- and I know I was around when BDIC was created and everything -- how it is that we allow the BDIC to have a board in place and do the work on behalf of that corporation when it appears that they’re under direct and immediate control of the Department of ITI?
I think if you look at the legislation establishing BDIC you would see that they are an independent board. There is no opportunity for political interference with approval of loans and the only avenue is for me to provide general direction to the board, and that is according to the legislation.
With regard to the SEED program, which is Support for Entrepreneurs in Economic Development policy, in the consultation we were, with committee it was very clear that the focus should be on what we call level two communities. I’m pleased to report that since its inception, the SEED program has been oversubscribed. Last year we gave out $2.9 million. This year we will be giving out $3.3 million. To date we’ve allocated approximately $2.9 million. I think the SEED program is working very well for what it’s intended. The money is going out to the smaller communities and it’s allowing the people at the small community level to get involved with business.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we have to make sure the money is getting into real businesses and diversifying our economy. Again, I think if only one-third of that funding is actually going to businesses, that is debatable.
The Minister talked about political interference and I know the BDIC was before standing committee late last year. The presentation they gave committee that day was quite vague and void of any real numbers. I’m just wondering, was that presentation vetted through the Department of ITI before it was given to standing committee?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was provided with a copy of the presentation. I don’t believe it was vetted by myself. But basically when we make a presentation to committee, we tried to respond to what the committee wishes to be briefed on, and unless they give us some very specific direction, generally we would give a very broad presentation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
