Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I'll go to the specific areas that relate to the recommendations from the committee on Public Accounts.

Strategic Focus

With regard to the strategic focus section, many people agree, Mr. Chairman, that government support of one kind or another is needed to stimulate and sustain economic development in the north. With limited resources, the government must focus and coordinate its economic efforts. This requires a clear, central strategy, and all participants must understand their role in achieving the best results.

Although the department and corporations under review have primary responsibility for economic development, all government departments and agencies share this responsibility through initiatives such as the business incentive policy. Specific individual departments must be actively involved because of the direct link between economic development and other government initiatives such as the income security reform initiative, commercial fish marketing strategy and the fur strategy.

Goals And Objectives

Committee Members were unable to determine the primary overall goal of economic development in the Northwest Territories. There are two overall goals that in practice can be contradictory. One goal focuses on creating jobs so that more citizens would be employed and feeling productive, and fewer people would be reliant on social assistance. Achieving this goal, however, usually requires continuous government funding.

A second goal directs the government to assist businesses to become viable and self-sufficient. Fewer businesses would rely on the government for survival. To achieve this goal, the government must make wise long-term investment decisions.

Both auditors and committee Members feel that the mandate for the department is based on some combination of both goals. We believe that it is not possible to develop coherent policies and programs with two different ideas of the organization's primary responsibility. In fact, this lack of clarity in the overall goal for developing the economy of the north underlies a number of the issues and problems identified by the audit and the committee review. Therefore, our committee makes the following recommendation, Mr. Chairman.