Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was involved in that process, and I appreciate the work that is going into that. One of the areas that is up for discussion in the strategic discussions around manufacturing is converting the current list policy, where you have to be registered as a manufacturer to receive the preferential purchasing, shifting that to a labour market subsidy so that you actually subsidize manufacturing operations to encourage employment. I think that is a viable option that is perhaps preferable to the current system.

If that example were undertaken, it would require an additional source...

Regulations and legislation are of course different. I am just wondering: are we talking about legislative change or regulatory change? The Minister can change the regulations today if he wanted to. Can the Minister clarify? Thank you.

By how much? Thank you.

Thank you. The legislative change that is required, when does the Minister anticipate bringing that forward?

Thank you to the Minister for providing the technical details of how it's calculated, but I'm looking for the reasons why there is a drop from $31 million to $13 million. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have spoken about this before, but BDIC performs an important role in supporting businesses in the Northwest Territories, providing advice to those companies and those individuals who are interested in getting involved and, of course, through its lending programs.

Looking at the information item, which is included later in the business review, on page 227, we see some of their operating results, and they seem to generate a significant amount of surplus. My understanding is that they cannot access that surplus under the terms of the current legislation. Is the Minister...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to remind the honourable Members of this House that, although we occupy these seats for now, we are holding them in trust for future generations.

Young people in the Northwest Territories and Canada live in very different circumstances than I did or my parents did or my grandparents, and those changing circumstances give a different perspective. It is a perspective that decision makers are often disconnected with, which is why we must work very diligently to connect with young Canadians and young Northerners and to understand their perspectives on the issues...

I am disappointed, but I will look forward to further discussing this both on the floor of this Chamber and in committee. Nothing further. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will just say for the record that I am always hesitant to appropriate money to MTS when it does have that established revolving fund, but I appreciate that this appropriation contemplates more than that in other labour relations capacities.

Our Standing Committee on Government Operations in its public accounts role will be taking a look at this and making sure the government is meeting its commitments to use the fund appropriately and to not use appropriations to support MTS, so I am putting the Minister on notice. I have no further questions apart from that. Thank you.

Thank you. So any changes or any development of tax credits that you would see in the mains normally, if we are to have those discussions, they will happen at a later date and any financial implications to this budget will be discussed at a later date. Can the Minister confirm that?