The second one, Mr. Speaker, is a reply to a question asked by Mr. Todd on March 9, 1992 concerning regional advisory boards under the NWT Business Credit Corporation Act. The NWT Business Credit Corporation Act provides for regional loan boards to be established by regulation. The regional boards have only advisory authority, as all recommendations must be authorized by the territorial board. In the meantime, nominations have been solicited for regional boards, and appointments will be made where warranted.
Under the new Business Credit Corporation Act, a new option is available to speed up processing of applications. Specifically, the act allows for the appoint of credit officers with lending authority up to $50,000. It is expected that, shortly, a proposal will be presented to the Business Credit Corporation Board for approval to designate regional superintendents as credit officers. Should this option be successful, the need for regional boards will be diminished.
In the meantime, it is our intention to decentralize decision making by designating regional departmental officials as credit officers to speed up the approval process.