Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Chair. SEED is usually fully subscribed right across the Northwest Territories. The one thing that I've looked at since I became the Minister of ITI is how are we using SEED and how effective is the SEED Program being implemented for economic development in the Northwest Territories. I could speak of this program because, before I got elected, I used this program to start off my business and I imagine there are a couple other people in this building who have done as such. It's a great program; but once I became the Minister of ITI and had to look at SEED, how it's being...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess that question would be depending on who asked. If you're asking me, I'm going to say it meets the needs of the commercial fisheries right now.

This payment includes to subsidize the freight costs which go back to the fishermen; that amount is $205,000, as well, to cover a portion of operations, maintenance and capital replacement costs of $20,000. So that's what we're giving to the commercial fisheries right now. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

That's exactly what this position would do. It would advance a regional product development of the region and packaging and the communities that hire this individual and work together, or Aboriginal governments that hire this person, to help them do exactly what the Member has said.

Mr. Chair, I believe the maximum they can lend an individual is $2 million. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This was a five-year initiative by the federal government, the territorial government. We are on our last remaining year, and we are working with the federal government on Growing Forward 3, and how we are going to try to access as much money as we can through another issue through cross-departmental initiatives to see what fits within Growing Forward 3 with the federal government to leverage the most dollars we can for the residents of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. First of all, this is the second year of the reduction from before and one of the community future development corporations had lower volumes of activity, therefore sustainable part-time level. So that's part of the reason for reductions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The $1.41 million was included in the 2016-17 main estimates and was an initiative funding approved for one year, so it was there for one year as part of the Economic Opportunities Strategy.

As I've said in the House, this is sunsetting in 2017-18 and if we don't get something done with our partners in leveraging this money we'll be looking for a carryover and hopefully be able to get something done after the next fiscal year-end. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we tabled in this House here last fall, we tabled Tourism 2020 and it has a number of initiatives in that document: attract experience, Aboriginal tourism, community tourism and development, skills development, as well as tourism research and planning, and that's the focus areas of Tourism 2020. To answer his question directly on how do we work to promote Aboriginal tourism and cultural experiences, within that initiative, we moved forward, and one of the things is Aboriginal Tourism Champions Program. That's a new initiative in this. We built it on three previous...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I said in an earlier answer, the SEED is fully subscribed in the Northwest Territories. My concern is: how are we actually spending this money? Are we targeting it properly to diversify and grow the economy in the Northwest Territories?

Also, to the other Member's comment that he mentioned, there are many buckets of money. There are a number of programs in the Northwest Territories for people to access, from community futures, to SEED, to BDIC, to different funding in ITI for tourism support, so there are a number of initiatives that are available through the department...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I said in my earlier comments, we are working with not just Lands, but we are working with Health and Social Services and ENR on this whole issue. Thank you, Mr. Chair.