Debates of June 6, 2006 (day 6)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement today, I talked about this government’s role, how it is particularly significant right now with the increased potential of resource development in relation to small business. Mr. Speaker, we have gone through some processes here. We have divided RWED. We have Industry, Tourism and Investment. We have consolidated the BDIC, the Business Development Investment Corporation. We have undertaken all these various exercises at some degree of energy and expense. I was wondering if the Minister today could articulate for us how those changes have translated into increased, better and effective support for small business. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bell.

Return To Question 61-15(5): Support For Small Business

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member has mentioned, one of the first tasks for us after the division of the department was to work with the newly created Business Development Investment Corporation. Essentially, that pulled together the various arms of our government that had been lending money, providing business programming, whether it was, at the time, RWED proper or BCC or the Development Corporation. We pulled them together under one roof and created what we feel is enabling legislation that allows for more flexibility and lending. It will allow us to be better able to partner with other organizations like Aboriginal Business Canada. It was a problem in past partnering and levering additional funds from the federal government. It was difficult under the past legislation. So we set up this legislative framework.

The next step was to do an evaluation of our programs that we were currently delivering to understand if they were working well. If they weren’t working, to talk about the kinds of improvements that we could make. That business program review has taken about just short of a year. We are now at the stage where the review will come back to me and I will get a chance to look at that. I will be in front of committee in the September business planning process to talk about improvements and to talk about some of the things we are proposing to do to ensure that we do make a difference and make sure our programs are relevant, accessible and more comprehensive. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Supplementary To Question 61-15(5): Support For Small Business

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We will certainly look forward to hearing of the results of that business program review. Mr. Speaker, time is of the essence. There are opportunities that are going to become apparent and are emerging right now in the North. There is a time frame. There is a window on some of these opportunities. The time is of the essence. I want to stress that to the Minister. Is there anything else that the Minister sees his department being able to do through any of these organizations that could assist small business? I understand that there is a cap on how much money small businesses can borrow, but there are other investors out there. At the Meet the North conference, we met investors from foreign countries actually looking to invest in the North. There are lending institutions out there. Interest rates are still low. What else can this government do to try and facilitate matching opportunities to needs here in the North? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 61-15(5): Support For Small Business

There certainly are a number of things. I would like to talk to committee about them. Just off the top of my head, I think, obviously, capital is always scarce. I think, in past, we’ve had a difficulty in freeing up some of that capital. Oftentimes, when you have the government bank have successful loans that are working well, they are reluctant to move them off to the chartered banks. But I think that we should be looking to take our successful loans and make sure the chartered banks get involved where possible so that we can free up more capital to then go out to other potential lenders.

I think we also need to have a discussion around our grant programs. They have essentially been decimated from somewhere in the neighbourhood of $10 million in the '90s to about $1.5 million a year. I think there is still a place for grants, but it probably isn’t in the larger centres. I think there is some merit in having the grants be targeted in our smallest communities and try to ensure that our loan programs are more effective in the larger centres. I think, for the bigger loans, many of the market-driven opportunities are going to be in our biggest communities. We need to make sure that we have capital that is freed up. There are a number of things that I would like to talk about. We will have to have this discussion around the cap of $2 million in programming for any individual. I look forward to that discussion as well. I think there are a number of things we will talk about in September. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Supplementary To Question 61-15(5): Support For Small Business

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to hear that the Minister recognizes that there is still a place for grants to businesses for start-up costs and things like that. I certainly think when you look at Hay River, you see many success stories that you can point to, businesses now that are manufacturing things, that are employing northerners, that are putting out quality products and are, in fact, shipping northern products to the South and bringing that money back into the Northwest Territories.

Part of that grant money used to come from the federal government in the form of the Economic Development Agreement. It was a matched funding program between the federal and territorial government where you could also access or stack it with grant programs that were available. What is the status of any discussions with the federal government about a new Economic Development Agreement? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 61-15(5): Support For Small Business

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I met with Jim Prentice -- it must be about a month ago now -- to discuss this specific issue, the need for a long-term, permanent EDA, Economic Development Agreement, in the Northwest Territories. I made him very much aware that we would have preferred the SINED funds be handled by either the territorial government or northern interests and see the decisions made here at home, but we had accepted that the existing SINED funds were going to be rolled out, DIAND making the decisions. As long as there was some consideration of our priorities, we could live with that for the existing three years of this program. But post this SINED program, we were insistent that we need to see an Economic Development Agreement like FedNor or like western economic diversification that the other provinces and other regions have. That is something that we will continue to discuss. He knows the ask. I am hopeful that he will be responsive. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Supplementary To Question 61-15(5): Support For Small Business

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister this final question then. If his department has given any consideration to hosting some type of venue where businesses that are interested in starting up or expanding what they are already doing, finding out where they can get support services for their company, additional capital, things like that, has the Minister’s department considered hosting or facilitating any such a gathering here in the North, given the timing and the imminent development that lies ahead? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 61-15(5): Support For Small Business

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of regional economic development conferences that have either been hosted or are in the planning stages and not necessarily headed up by our department, but our department has participated in and will continue to participate in these. It is something that I am certainly prepared to discuss. I think, as this business program review comes forward and we talk about improvements, there is some merit to pulling business interests and stakeholders together to discuss what we are thinking needs to be done. So that is something that we can certainly consider, but we will also, and I would urge Members that if there are regional efforts that are coming together, if there are participants coming forward with suggestions or ideas, bring them forward to me. We are certainly prepared to discuss them and consider them. I think it does make a lot of sense to bring the various different stakeholders together. As the Member indicates, for some of these resource development projects, time is of the essence and there is some urgency here. We need to make sure we are supportive. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.