Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of ITI has a wealth, a variety, of different programs and funding opportunities for programs just such as this. Yes, while I am happy to give the yes and say that we will reach out to Kakisa to make sure that they are aware of it, there are so many options and opportunities. If there are communities, Indigenous organizations, Indigenous governments, individuals thinking about creating some sort of small agriculture project, wanting to learn more about commercial agriculture, there are funding opportunities for small-scale foods programs; there are funding...

As I said at the beginning, my understanding is that BDIC has contacted all of their clients. There were some whom they were unable to get a hold of, and certainly, there are no doubt some whose situations may continue to change. I cannot say strongly enough that, anyone who is a client of BDIC or who might benefit as a client of BDIC, that they please get in touch with the loans officers. There are a number of different options. For example, although some businesses have restarted on their regular payments, some have renegotiated to actually have lower payments than what they had before, some...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was already some time ago that there were conversations happening within the BDIC around what to do with the loan deferral program, and the option that we took was one of reaching out, in fact, to every single one of the 139 loan clients who had their loan payments deferred. In doing that, they were better able to tailor their response such that quite a number have actually begun to resume their regular payments. Of the remaining 76, in fact, who had requested some further reductions or deferrals, they were able to tailor-make the program to either defer or to reduce...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Range Lake, that Bill 28, Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 2021-2022, be read for the third time, and Mr. Speaker, I would request a recorded vote. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to move that the committee motion actually be amended by adding the words "or donors" immediately following the word "candidates." Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Range Lake, that Bill 28, Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 2021-2022, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Short answer: yes, that there is an intention that indeed the fish plant would be one that is compliant with the Canadian food industry inspection agency's full requirements to be able to provide a product that is more varied than simply processing fish. Specifically, what might come from that and specifically what might ultimately get processed there would likely be up more to the owners and managers of the plant, certainly rather than me. However, the vision is one that it is meant to be up to a level that it can accommodate more than simply a processing of the fish. Again, I will perhaps...

The agriculture strategy already brings together the Departments of ITI as well as Lands, ENR, Health and Social Services, so certainly the work across the departments is already happening. I am familiar with the program that used to exist in the correctional institutions, and I believe I have actually committed to another MLA earlier this same session that I would reach out and work with the Minister of Justice to see if there is some future for that program again. I don't have an answer other than to say that I have made that commitment. I will make it again, and we will see if it can go...

There is actually quite a complex network of supports, I would say, both from the federal government, some from the GNWT, and many through the support of both levels of government. Right now, it's really only the GRIT program that is certainly sunsetting. A lot of the other programs were filling in of gaps or topping up of programs. It is certainly our effort and our intention to continue to do that into the new fiscal year. A lot of things became available in the latter part of this fiscal year, when there was an awareness that, for example, some businesses needed bookkeeping support, so...

Interest rate reductions certainly are a little bit more complicated, and that is really a lot of the way in which the BDIC generates the funds on which it relies to actually run the programs that it provides and to provide the loan portfolio that it currently has. It's a fairly delicate balance. That is not something that is right now being looked at. That said, obviously, as we move into a recovery stage and continue to go through the recovery stage, BDIC, as I just said in my last response, continues to be quite client-oriented in looking at specific ways of solving issues and solving...