Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Well, if you put the NWT Development Corporation aside for the moment, in fact, we are doing exactly what Mr. Lewis is saying. We are now responding to initiatives from the private sector, whether they are small cottage industries with $5,000 grants; whether it's the development of a garage operation in Rankin Inlet; or, whether it's arts and crafts in Cape Dorset. I think we're doing that. We're also trying to bring in new money by working in partnership with some cooperatives, the Northwest Company and a number of others.
My belief is we're doing it, though perhaps not as effectively as Mr. Lewis would like. When you're viewed as the Department of Economic Development, I guess sometimes you're viewed as responsible for solving all the economic ills of the area. That's difficult to do when you have the size of a budget we have and the limited mandate we have. I'm not making excuses, I'm just saying that I think that's what we have been doing, certainly in the last two years. We've been trying to provide support and aftercare for small business.
Regarding the NWT Development Corporation, first of all, it is important to say that I inherited this as a Minister. However, I fundamentally believe in some of the principles of it, where we have to at this time, during the interim development of some of these industries, provide some form of subsidization. It's fine to make comparisons to southern Canada, but I just don't think you can. I don't think there's anywhere else in southern Canada, except for maybe in the Maritime provinces, where you have 40, 50 and in some cases 60 per cent unemployment. Where we have the fastest growing budget right now in this Legislature is social assistance, that we have to find a ways and means in which to try to make people feel better about their lives and try to create some jobs and we do that through the policy which allows us to subsidize it.
I view the NWT Development Corporation as only one small part of the overall economic strategy to make life a little better in Arctic communities. I don't see it as the be-all and end-all. Whether it's an operation in Fort Liard making baskets, the Jessie Oonark Centre in Baker Lake, or the print centre in Pangnirtung, I think there's an interim requirement to get these businesses up and running, there's an overall objective to try to get them to break even and we would certainly be very, very pleased if they could make money. But I think it's incumbent upon us and this government, as has been the past practice and certainly the present practice, to recognize that at least on the front-end there is a need for some form of subsidization.
Let me tell you, the NWT board of directors and in particular the chairman, who is Bob Leonard from Arviat, a private-sector guy, clearly recognizes a need to try and reduce the subsidies and there is a great deal of effort going on to do that.
I think Mr. Lewis is correct; most people in the private sector don't view government in a particularly favourable light. I'm optimistic in the long term that some of these operations will eventually be able to break even, and optimistically, some of them may be able to make money and we can sell them off, et cetera. In fact, we did that last year. We sold off the logging operation out of Hay River. So it's not our economic salvation, but it's one part of making life a little better for people. That's my position. It still stays the same. I think there's a need for it at this time. Should it go on forever; I don't know at this stage of the game. I would hope that at some point there would be less requirement for the subsidies.
But I can tell you this, when I go to Gjoa Haven or I go to Arviat or Baker Lake or any of these communities that are bursting at the seams, and social assistance dollars are racing through the roof, we have to find a way in which to create some economic activity. It's not purely fiscal, it's also emotional. It's the fact that you feel better about yourself if you have a job.
I don't want to make a long spiel about this. I know in my own riding with the fish plant there, I've gone to the fish plant on a number of occasions where we've taken people who are unilingual, haven't got an opportunity, not a hope in heck of getting a job, and I can tell you the smiles on these people's faces as they're working, trying to make an effort. Is that money well spent? That's debatable. I think at this stage of the game it is.
I want to assure Mr. Lewis, that in the long term my belief is that we can hopefully limit the subsidies. Thank you.