Caroline Wawzonek

I can definitely commit that, if there is such an application that was denied on the basis of market disruption after such time as that announcement was made, that we will be looking at it again and ensure that it does meet the intentions as they have been stated and retooled to meet to COVID-19.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thought I'd have an easy answer there, and then I heard "2021," and I'm not able to make that commitment on the floor right now. As I've said, for the moment, when the SEED Policy had been retooled to accommodate and to respond to COVID-19, the market disruption clause has been waived for the current fiscal year. Mr. Speaker, I can assure the Member that we are going to be looking at that, given where we're at and if the pandemic continues to be ongoing and, in fact, continues to be fairly disruptive in the southern regions. I will certainly commit to looking at that...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table to following two documents: "Northern Employees Benefit Services (NEBS) Pension Plan Annual Report for the Year Ended December 31, 2019 and including updated information to June 2020" and "NWT Carbon Tax Report 2019-2020." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Returning again is deputy minister of Finance, Sandy Kalgutkar.

That is the first time I've had it raised to me that that is an option or a solution that we should be pursuing, and I agree with the Member's statement that there is short-term and there is long-term. Yes. Absolutely, short-term, I'd like to see this project to Whati in partnership with the Tlicho Government advance, and then, beyond that, to get the satellite communities to the state where they have gained access to low Earth orbit satellite system. Then, beyond that, I will give you the words that I was told by the federal counterpart, which is: dream big. If we're being told to dream big...

Right now, there are no plans in place to be extending the fibre line to Gameti and Wekweeti. The first step is to get it as far as Whati. Again, working in combination with the Tlicho Government, it may well be that, if we are successful in our applications to the federal government for their support and their funding in regard to that project, that, from there, we may well be moving on to Gameti and Wekweeti, but we have to lay the first line first.

There are business supports that ITI does have in terms of providing business mentorship. The Business Mentoring Program run through ITI has been, in fact, oversubscribed for the last two years, so I think that speaks to its success. I certainly would plug that program. There are certainly funding supports through ITI, for example, with the SEED Program that can help businesses as they are getting started. Then, of course, in terms of accessing contracting, there are the existing programs under BIP, for instance, that can help businesses gain access to government procurement, and there are...

I had the opportunity to review the materials around the 8(a) Program that comes out of the United States, and I can't say that that program has been looked at as a model for the Northwest Territories. I do want to assure the Member that ITI does look at best practices that come from across Canada in terms of how we are supporting local business and will continue to do so.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document: "Budget Dialogues 2020: What We Heard Report, September 2020." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, I am very pleased to say that we're going to be working together with the Tlicho Government to bring a fibre line into the community of Whati, and pleased that, again, at this point, with the CRTC approvals that are in place, Gameti and Wekweeti will be seeing a dramatic improvement to their access, as well. We are constantly working with federal counterparts to have access and opportunity to get involved with the tremendous amount of funding that is coming forward in the next few years for broadband, but even that funding from the federal government, at this point, although we're...