Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that the GNWT may not be in a position to afford a subsidy of this $350-million magnitude, but it could perhaps offset some employer premium costs, improving the WSCC's current offer. The current business supports offered by the GNWT are not enough, and the GNWT must do more now. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Should the Minister hear from her colleague from the department of education that there are substantial concerns coming out of schools about kids really struggling with the new COVID world, is the department willing to speed up the process of putting the child and youth care counsellors into schools across the territory? Thank you.

I'm good. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Would the Minister be able to speak a little to the scope that they have planned for that review and what the anticipated cost of that would be? Thank you.

As a government, we have incurred many expenses because of COVID-19, and we have incurred these expenses hoping that the federal government will down the road reimburse us for all of these. I am wondering: does the territorial government kind of have a limit of how much COVID debt they are willing to take on or they can take on, and is small business and money to small business included in that plan? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Premier because I believe that the kind of response required by the GNWT to support small business will take a Cabinet collaboration. Mr. Speaker, can I have the Premier's commitment that she will instruct her Cabinet Ministers to bring forward innovative suggestions on how more funding and support can be made available to NWT businesses as a result of COVID-19? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The International Monetary Fund is calling the pandemic's devastation of the global economy "the great lockdown." Its impacts are predicted to be worse than both the 2009 great recession and the Great Depression of the 1930s. According to the Conference Board of Canada, Canada's economic contraction during the second quarter of 2020 is estimated to be a staggering 25 percent due to COVID-19 shutdowns. The Conference Board is at least optimistic that a rebound will start later in the year, but by this time many businesses and the jobs they bring will be beyond devastated...

According to the backgrounder that accompanied the announcement of top-up funding, I quote, "a flexible approach shall be taken to the provision of SEED strategic initiative funding, with an allowable funding range between $30,000 and $70,000." However, the ITI SEED program webpage and the policy itself indicate that the maximum funding available under any specific entrepreneur support category is $25,000 per year. Can the Minister please clarify first what is meant by the term "entrepreneur support category" in the SEED policy, and are there separate pots of funding under the SEED umbrella...

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. For the following year, would we expect to see the same type of a budget line item for here, then? It would be consistent within that, kind of, $365,000 mark? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was happy to hear the Minister just now speak of SEED funding, and I'd like to take that a step further with her today.

Mr. Speaker, our NWT businesses need aggressive, innovative stimulus programs and an influx of cash so they can start the long journey of regenerating our northern economy. I was pleased to hear that ITI has topped up its SEED program by $140,000, to $4 million, to support new, innovative proposals that reflect the realities of the post-COVID-19 economy.

The program guidelines provide that funding should support forward-looking business proposals aimed...