Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of my constituents is a trapper who benefits from the ENR's Prime Fur Bonus program, and over the last season he had substantial delays in receiving his payment, thousands of dollars held up for inexplicable reasons. I brought this concern to the Minister of ENR and it has since been resolved, but I am wondering if he can speak publicly to the issue which is affecting the prompt payment of trappers who rely on this extra income. Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to stand here and promote one of the best programs that the government offers across the Northwest Territories. As the Member from the Mackenzie Delta said, it is November 1st today, trapping season, and a lot of people are able to access many of the programs through the Grubstake Program and prepare themselves from an upcoming trapping season. They get further benefits when they bring their fur in. They do get an advance on fur that they bring. They send the fur out to the markets, and then depending on how quickly the sale is is how quickly we can get the money back to them. I was glad we were able to resolve the Member's constituent's issue. It is a very successful program, and I am going on a little too long, so I am going to stop there, Mr. Speaker.
I agree with the Minister. It's a great program, but it's really important that we pay our trappers on time, and I know that with my constituent in particular there was a new financial system that was put in place that was the subject of these delays, and I know at the time that I inquired with this they were still, the department was still, working out the kinks. I don't want a Phoenix pay system in the NWT sort of problem, and I do not think any of our trappers do, either, so can the Minister assure this House that this new financial system is working as intended and after this season there will be no more delays in payments?
Mr. Speaker, the fur harvest management system might be the one the Member is referring to. We are getting the kinks out of that. Again I would have to investigate a little further, but I do know that sometimes the delay in getting the money back to the trappers is from the actual fur sale itself. I think in this particular case the way that it was going through the system might have been part of the reason for the delay, and I can assure the Member and all trappers out there, and I know a lot of them personally, that this will not be happening again.
Has the Minister's department reached out to all of these trappers who were delayed in getting paid? Has the Minister's department reached out and let them know what the issues are and can reassure them personally that the problem will not happen again?
Mr. Speaker, my understanding, as far as I know we have had the one concern, and, if there are others, I will follow up and let them know that this should not happen again once we get all of the kinks ironed out of the system. Again, the Member agrees with me, this is a fantastic program. We actually had a veteran trapper up in the delta when we were up there with the meeting, the economic symposium. We had them actually come up to the Minister of ITI and myself, complementing the government on the success of that program with the Grubstake Program and everything else and how successful it's been and how many trappers have actually taken advantage of this program.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
