Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Madam Chair. Today, we have Pamela Strand, deputy minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, and Nina Salvador, director of finance and administration at ITI.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I do not necessarily subscribe to the view that oversubscription equals good value for money. I do agree generally, though, that the SEED funding does seem to be one that does support small business, small/medium businesses, and community events and projects, so I would like to just simply say that this is clearly a good program. The direction that we are going right now in the government is that we are going to figure out which are the good programs that are delivering on what they say that they are delivering, in this case assistance to businesses and individuals...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Of that 10 percent, you often have businesses that employ guides locally, boat operators, airline operators locally, and certainly may use other tourist products here, such as local hotels during transfers and food operators, logistics, supplies, et cetera. Whether it's direct employees or whether it's indirectly spent, those who may be based in the South are still often very important local operators. What I would, perhaps, suggest or commit to doing is to provide information, to the extent that we have it, that outlines the spending that we are aware of by those...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Each Community Futures organization does have a fair bit of latitude to administer their programs, and I would suggest that they immediately contact their Community Futures organizations in the community that they are in, knowing, of course, too, that there are certainly opportunities directly to ITI, that if certain things don't fall neatly within the Community Futures, there's a number of other programs still specific to COVID relief available. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. May I suggest going to the director of finance, please.

Yes, Madam Chair. I am here to present the 2021-2022 Main Estimates for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Overall, the department's estimates propose an increase of $404,000 or 0.7 percent over the main estimates of 2020-2021. These estimates support the mandate objectives for ITI while continuing to meet the GNWT's fiscal objectives to prioritize responsible and strategic spending.

Highlights of these proposed estimates include:

Initiative funding totalling $2.296 million, which includes:

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$936,000 to continue our support of tourism under Tourism 2025 towards the five-year...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just to be clear, earlier, it was 9 percent went to businesses that have sole proprietorships as women, 55 percent go to small businesses that have at least a partial ownership of women, so it's not quite so dire, which is not to say that this is not an area for potential growth. I am quite sure I have seen some other statistics around the participation of women in small and micro-business, and there is a story to be told there. Yes, let me put whatever hat on I need to to say that I am quite confident from the interactions I have had with the executive director at BDIC...

Madam Chair, the department worked very much in conjunction, in collaboration, with the Office of the Chief Public Health Officer last spring and through the season to ensure that the parks reopened safely. In some ways, that foundation is already there and the relationships are already there, and the relationships are already built. I am quite confident that everything that can be done to reopen as safely and as fulsomely as possible is and will be done. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. If you are a community, you would go through Community Futures. You might consider the Community Futures Regional Relief and Recovery Fund. If you are an individual, then you certainly may want to start, obviously, with CanNor, which is one of our great federal partners; go to NWT Tourism. There are quite a number of different pots that might apply, depending on the nature of what's being sought. Perhaps I will send that to Deputy Minister Strand to just outline some of those specifics.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We do have, yes, indeed, some coming in for Mineral Resources Act, and one is, I believe, a permafrost scientist coming in that I would believe is being counted here, yes.