Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, since 2013, the NWT has lost nearly a thousand smallmedium sized enterprises. What is the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment doing to bring small business and entrepreneurs back to the Northwest Territories and invest in our private sector? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I have just been newly appointed to this portfolio and been a small business owner myself previous to coming to the Assembly, I will work diligently to ensure that all small business opportunities there are available in all the communities in the Northwest Territories and to all entrepreneurs that are thinking of going into small business in the Northwest Territories have the opportunity to move forward in a manner that will best benefit residents of the Northwest Territories and the communities, and we will ensure to help them the best we can. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Minister for that. I'm sure his experience as an entrepreneur himself will lend some new insight into our policies. One area that needs to be improved is the availability of investment capital for business opportunities. Right now, it's very hard for entrepreneurs to access investment, and, in a time when the global economy is not opening up to investment, what is our government doing to flow more capital to entrepreneurs and small businesses and allow them to make investments in our economy, create jobs, and diversify a stalled economy that is overly dependent on resource development?
As the Member alluded to, yes, the capital markets are tight and the commodities are low, so that puts a lot of pressure on the economy of the Northwest Territories with little development in the mining sector. As the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, we have a number of programs that are here that are available to young entrepreneurs, old entrepreneurs, to move the economy forward, and we continue to invest in them. We have the SEED program and a number of other opportunities where they can access capital via the Metis Development Fund, or the Community Futures, or ITI or even BDIC, and we will continue to work with those organizations to make sure capital is available to any entrepreneur that wants to move forward.
Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to enhancing those programs or indicate whether or not those programs will be enhanced in the near future or will they stay the same? I appreciate that the department does a lot of work in this area, but, at a time, as the Minister indicated, where capital markets are tight, we need this investment. Is the department going to put more money into these opportunities, or are we keeping things status quo? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As this is early days in my portfolio, I will be reviewing all available capital that's available to all people of the Northwest Territories, and I'm sure, if there's a need to either lower it or raise it, I will make sure I inform this House.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Premier and the Finance Minister have talked about the importance of infrastructure in supporting the economy. In fact, it's the real tool to drive our economy forward. As the Minister has recently come to this portfolio, is the Minister willing to look at our procurement policies and bring in members of the private sector and procurement experts to find a way to make procurement more effective at boosting our economy and flowing capital into our communities and creating more jobs?
Is the Minister willing to take a look at BIP and our other procurement policies and make them more effective, more transparent, for Northerners? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As a government, we are always looking at trying to find a way to make things more better, more effective, more resilient. I believe that we are. On an annual basis, we probably look at BIP and procurement on a regular basis. Back to his question about making more money available to small businesses and communities, with raising the procurement level to $25,000, that is, I believe, has offered the smaller communities a little better chance to participate in the economy and be able to bid and supply stuff to the Government of the Northwest Territories, so that is one thing I believe that is positive out of that.
Masi. Item 7, oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
