Thank you. I will go to the Member from the Dehcho.
Thank you. I would think one of the barriers would be -- it could be housing. Housing could be one of the barriers, lack of knowledge of starting a business. So given those, what are some supports that are available to business starter-uppers? Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you very much for the question, Mr. Chair. So in regards to housing and the challenges we see across the territory, this government is investing more in housing infrastructure than any government before it with $150 million and still working to make sure that we're supporting increased investments in housing from other third parties into the territory.
In addition to that, Mr. Chair, there's also mentorship opportunities that I alluded to earlier with other Members. So making sure that we are creating opportunities for somebody who wants to start a business to work with somebody who successfully has done just that.
And in addition, we have our business development officers, our career transfer initiatives as well, which fund economic development officers in regions and in communities so that different funding opportunities are accessible, where people can sit down with somebody, understand what programs are out there for the idea that they have, and really working with not just economic development officers, but also staff -- any staff member, really, from a regional office, whether it's ITI or ECE, should be able to kind of cross-link somebody to different funding programs that are available to them.
And then Prosper NWT also has not just funding programs but they also have grants -- or sorry, not just loans, but they also have grants. So they have grants that can help people set up different websites, especially people who want to kind of transition into e-commerce and so able to expand their reach beyond just their community to different potential buyers and potential customers for their business. And then in addition to that, there's a new grant through Prosper NWT that links businesses with different artificial intelligence opportunities as well. And those are both grants. And then Prosper NWT also works very hard to provide different kind of business advice type solutions for people. So, you know, if the Member knows of somebody that's looking to set up a business and looking for supports, please don't be shy to either reach out through the MLA to myself, or I would be more than happy to provide contacts for ITI, ECE, or Prosper, depending on what the person is looking for. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Member from the Dehcho.
Thank you. I guess I think about just, you know, when you're in small communities, it's a lot harder especially if you're living isolated. I can't imagine if that, you know, they have business development officers come to the community. Do they do that once a month? Once every -- twice a month? I am not sure how that works. But that's why, I guess, I talked about it before. I'd like to have a business development officer in my community so people can feel like they're supported right there rather than having to drive to Hay River. And, yeah, so just having that support readily available in communities. And I understand people can phone, they can email, but it seems like it's better to talk one-on-one with somebody in person rather than on the phone. Because you have to -- I guess it's all about building relationships, right?
So the other question I had was on the fishers. It's funny how they call them that, fishers now, commercial fishermen. What supports do they get by becoming fishers? Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, we certainly provide supports through the purchase of supporting the purchase of equipment, through training for people who are interested in becoming involved in commercial fishing. In the past, we've also done support for wages as well. And then we have our commercial fish program and also the northern food program that people can access for different buckets of funding depending on what type of infrastructure, whether that's hard infrastructure or soft infrastructure that they're looking to fill. And so the budget for that is roughly, I believe, about half a million dollars. And then in addition to that, there's also the SEED program that people can apply through. So we -- acknowledging that there's a lot of demand on different funding programs, we try to make sure that we're working directly with the person who's interested in accessing these funding programs and suggesting different avenues and different ways that they can apply so that we're trying to really expand that opportunity as much as possible.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from the Dehcho.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't have anything further. Thank you.
Thank you. I am going to take a 30-minute break, and then we'll come back. Thank you.
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Okay, I am going to continue on with the questions where we left off on page 237 to 239. Are there any questions from the Member from Frame Lake?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The first question, how is ITI measuring whether its business programs are actually diversifying the economy rather than reinforcing the existing composition of it?
Thank you, go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, that is part of the program redesign work that we are doing right now. So, we started today with the Member from Great Slave asking about the SEED review, and so we are doing this work through existing reviews that are ongoing right now.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you. I appreciate the Minister being brief most of the time, but in this case if she could elaborate a bit on what the review is looking to achieve and change, that would be great.
Thank you. To the Minister.
Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. I just promised my colleagues I would be far more brief.
Mr. Chair, we are doing reviews. These are the hard questions we ultimately need to ask. You know, there's a lot of people across the territory who apply on these programs more than once. Sometimes it reflects kind of the economic landscape and goals of the territory. Sometimes it doesn't. And so, essentially, where we're at right now is at a point where we have to ask ourselves the hard questions of, are these programs designed to ensure that everybody gets a small piece of the pie, or do we want programs that ultimately act as game changers and accelerators of businesses within the Northwest Territories. And this is part of that work that's currently underway. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Member for Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, I think I will just say I appreciate that they're doing this work, and I think this kind of measurement is needed. We've talked a lot about the need for economic planning and connecting it better with our economic analysis. So I am not going to belabour those points here, but just to say that while the department is doing this work, I'd appreciate it if they look into that. And the comments that have been made about the economic and fiscal outlook and how we can plan our economic planning around that using the fiscal outlook to inform our actions in the sense of if we have workforce shortages, if that's a risk or if that's a problem that we have to address, then that's certainly something that should be part of our economic planning on the other end of it, which is what can we do about that problem. So I won't belabour that point too much here aside from to say that I'd like to see us including that in the review of the business programs as well.
But speaking to the workforce shortage issue and the statement I made on Friday about the importance of the polytechnic transition but not just that, but generally workforce development and education in the territory and how that can be transformative of the economy.
I know that the department was doing some knowledge economy development work in the recent past, and I've noticed that it has worked its way out of the planning when it comes to economic diversification and business support. At least in the sense that we have a film industry, we have film industry programming, we have art sector supports. I don't see anything in here related to knowledge economy development, and I do see it as an underdeveloped sector that has the opportunity of, through further development, helping to diversify the economy. So I am wondering if the Minister could comment on that, why that is lacking in the business planning and work of the department on economic diversification. Thanks.
Thank you, I will go to the Minister.
Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, that was funding that we had received, and that funding has since sunset. So it's current, like, that line item is currently not funded and we were seeking funding with CanNor to work with Wilfred Laurier on being able to extend that so currently that is not funded. But what we are working toward as commitments made through the business plan that are connected to the economic vision are the innovation action plan. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Member for Frame Lake.
Okay, thank you. And we talked a fair bit about workforce on the previous pages and in the business plan with relation to boosting northern employment numbers. But, yeah, I am wondering about knowledge economy development from a couple of different perspectives. One is the risk identified in our economic and fiscal outlook that we have workforce availability issues, and we have issues with the level of education and preparedness in our workforce. And so that's a risk and a gap that I think we should be trying to close in terms of economic planning.
The point that I wanted to highlight from that statement on Friday the most is just the idea that creating an environment of ongoing improvement and learning and skill development in the territory is known to be transformative in terms of creating a skilled workforce that can attract investment here. And so people will be more inclined to invest in this territory if certain skills exist, and that growth of the knowledge economy can be a real driver. And I would just note that in terms of looking at this as a risk factor, the other two northern jurisdictions are well ahead of us now, and they're attracting quite a bit of investment. The Yukon, I would say, is at the point of being developed, and Nunavut is moving very quickly to become developed, and the NWT has fallen behind along the way. And so why I am raising it here is because that is a challenge and an opportunity that we're missing out on, I see as. Us missing out on it because we're not focusing on it as not just a social development thing, as not just an Aurora College thing, but as a general economic development, as part of a fulsome strategy for economic development. So that's why I am highlighting it here and why I think we need to pay more attention to it.
The other point I would make is that development of that knowledge economy, it's very, very similar to the justifications used by the department for their investments in film, is that every dollar that you put in brings in research dollars, it brings in private investment, and it can grow something that wasn't there before. So I think that we need to be pulling out all the stops in the territory. We certainly don't want to be leaving opportunities on the table, particularly one as big as this one that we see the other two territories having so much success developing and us falling quite a bit behind. So I am concerned about it. I want to note that I think we need to put more thought into it than just worrying about whether CanNor can give us some money. I think we need to be thinking about what we're doing. So a bit of a speech there, but I would appreciate the Minister's thoughts.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, a couple of things, and I will try to be brief. The first piece being that this falls also within the mandate of Aurora College, so an expectation that they're doing some of this work, that they're looking to stack funding, that they're also looking to bring in research dollars and have been noted in, I believe, was within the top 15 of research institutions across Canada for multiple years now. And that is work that we can continue to expect them to continue and to grow on and stack.
This also has to do with partnerships with industry. I was here first thing this morning before the rest of our meetings got started today because I was meeting with an industry leader who is looking at securing investment and stacking that investment on some different research opportunities that extend across other departments. And I've had the opportunity to speak with the other Minister about this and how we can work collectively together. So it's not just about the GNWT. There has to be industry partners in this as well if we're going to be successful. And so making sure that we are securing multiple avenues of investment, that we are supporting further research and some of the work that Cabinet has done, as well as meeting with ambassadors and consul generals from other countries, because there's an incredible amount of interest in the Northwest Territories from other countries around the circumpolar north who want to be able to do this work together. So we're looking at these opportunities and it's worth noting as well that the investment that has gone to Nunavut does also have a part to play in the NWT. I understand from conversations with the IRC that the intention is for there to be also satellite facilities associated with that funding in the Northwest Territories in ISR territory as well. So we will continue to make sure that we're working with all education partners and supporting the growth of these sectors. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And with my last few seconds, I will just ask, how is the department identifying new opportunities for the NWT, new opportunities for bringing investment into the NWT? We are not seeing new sectors, growth, just generally diversification. Because that's kind of coming back to the beginning of my first question which was not only what are we measuring but what are we doing to actually increase diversity in the economy as opposed to just supporting existing activities? Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the NWT has a diverse economy. We don't have a diverse GDP. So we have businesses that are involved in arts. We have businesses that are involved in tourism, construction, retail, too much public administration if I may say so. But we certainly are doing a lot of things to do with making sure that we're working to diversify our GDP, which is where I think the difference really needs to be noted there. So, you know, making sure that we're building on our strengths, that we are noting where we're seeing major multiplier impacts in the territory. So, for example, within our mining sector, continuing to invest in that and invest in multiple metals and minerals across the board, making sure that we're speaking with investors from other countries and interested investors, making sure that we're doing support applications for organizations that need them to be able to attract that investment to the territory.
In addition to that, we are, for the example of film, making sure that we are creating robust investment that, at the end of the day, multiplies the public dollars and sees a tremendous amount more investment in the Northwest Territories. And this has an impact not just on film, for example, but also on tourism. They kind of feed into one another. That leads us into our tourism strategy or 2030 tourism strategy, which will be released this spring in which we will have offered a briefing to committee on, but making sure that we are listening to these sectors that already do exist and listening to what they need in order to see acceleration within their own sectors.
In addition to those pieces, we are also making sure that we're telling the story of the Northwest Territories. So that includes making sure that we're traveling with Indigenous governments to different conference opportunities, whether it's within the Northwest Territories nationally or internationally, because we know that the world is small and the world is very connected. And a lot of people are looking to the Arctic right now, particularly the Canadian Arctic, and we want to make sure that we're telling our own story ourselves. Thank you.
Thank you. On this section, are there any further questions? Okay, seeing none, please turn to page 236.
Industry, tourism and investment, economic diversification and business support, $23,111,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Moving on to minerals and petroleum resources, beginning on page 240, with information items on 242 to 243. Are there any questions?
I am going to go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. I wanted to ask first about, so the money allocated for Mineral Resources Act implementation, there's an increase there of $300,000 -- no, $400,000 -- math is hard -- Since last year's main estimates although the revised estimates -- the numbers are going up and down a little bit, and my understanding is that we had some sort of money that is sunsetting for implementation of the Mineral Resources Act but then there's also a new chunk of money coming in. Can the Minister clarify, did we get federal funding before for this, or was it like a GNWT allocated amount that has sunsetted, and what sort of new funding package do we see coming online there for these 2026-2027 Main Estimates? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, we previously had federal funding for community engagement position roles, so supporting with helping communities do engagement across the territory. And in addition to that, the funding that you see in this year's budget, and we're trying to make sure that we are only requesting funding that is needed for the implementation of the MRAR, as well as getting all of that done. And that is a key focus of the department in the life of this Assembly, and so what this also includes is a director position that will be required. It is the director of mineral and energy regulation, and that will be a new position that will be required as per the new org chart of the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment to make sure that we're accommodating what's required from the implementation of this legislation. And in addition to that, as a communications officer, because there will be a tremendous amount of communication required to people who are currently lease and claims holders in the territory and need to understand how the Mineral Resources Act regulation will impact their operations, so making sure that we are being proactive in those conversations. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, first question around that. So, I assume that the new director position is going to be indeterminate. The new communications position, is that a term position or indeterminate? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The communications position is a two-year term position. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Member from the Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And with the director position, what justifies the need for a new director? I mean, that's a significant and indefinite investment. ITI is a relatively small department. Can you comment on, say, the number of directors that ITI already has compared to other departments given the size of ITI, like the total staff numbers? And, like, what's the rationale for needing a new director position? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, ITI went through a very extensive review of their entire org chart and rewrote, actually, 83 job descriptions as part of this work to make sure that people's roles would be shifting, that we were trying to work within the staff means that we had within the department. And the need for an added director is because there is a requirement to ensure that we are separating the regulatory versus the mineral promotion roles within the department, because the roles have changed and the expectation on the department has changed as per the co-drafted Mineral Resources Act legislation. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Member from the Yellowknife North.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. And so the federal money that is sunsetting for Mineral Resources Act implementation, obviously we haven't seen implementation yet. It seems to have dragged out for a number of years. But what was actually accomplished with that federal funding that's sunsetting given that we haven't yet seen the MRI come into force with regulations? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay. I will go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the engagements that still have to happen around the territory still exist. It really enabled participation and meaningful participation from Indigenous governments, which is key to projects in the territory, as well as the fact that we co-draft our legislation and our regulations in the Northwest Territories. So a tremendous amount of work has been done. It certainly is taking time. But this is a leading piece of legislation in Canada, not just the Northwest Territories. We are co-drafting how we are going to develop land in the territory from a mineral resources perspective. And we're doing that hand-in-hand with a shared plan with Indigenous governments. And this is something that other jurisdictions have actually looked to the NWT, placed phone calls, wanted to know how we're working together, how we're doing it, and how it's going. So there are a lot of eyes on the territory right now as this work unfolds. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
