Mr. Speaker, this government has made a commitment to seek partnerships with aboriginal groups. I am pleased to report that progress is being made with respect to the delivery of economic development programs.
Sakku Investments Incorporated, the business arm of the Keewatin Inuit Association, the Community Futures Society in the Keewatin, and the Department of Economic Development and Tourism in the region have established the Kivalliq Partners in Development to improve business services to clients.
The partners have hired three cost-shared staff, all young people from the Keewatin who will work with departmental staff and employees of the Community Futures Society to provide one-stop shopping for the business community. This one-stop shop will improve the coordination of economic development services in the region, duplication of efforts and programs will be reduced, efficiency increased and access to programs improved. To increase efficiency and effectiveness even further, the partners plan to have Internet services available to every economic development officer in the smaller communities in the Keewatin by this summer, improving electronic access to business information and communications from around the world.
Sakku, NTI and the department have recently decided to pool their grant programs for small businesses in the region. The funds will be managed by the partners and allocated by communities. Decisions will be made at the community level which will give communities meaningful participation in their own economic development.
During this next year, the partners intend to research and develop an aftercare program, a youth entrepreneur program and amalgamate the management of Sakku, Business Credit Corporation and community futures loan portfolios.
To ensure increased business success, the partners have established a business training and resource centre in Arviat. The centre has a library of business training material and offers training courses in two languages at the community level. I am pleased to inform the House that the training centre has successfully delivered its first entrepreneur training module: an introduction to business bookkeeping.
Mr. Speaker, the results of this cooperative effort are very positive. The partners have invested $1.5 million to assist 30 small businesses expand their operations. This investment has generated 26 new full-time jobs and 31 new part-time jobs, with a payroll value of $1.2 million in the first year. By working together, the partners were able to achieve what they would not have been able to do alone: support this many applications to create badly-needed jobs in the Keewatin.
We have to do more with less in these financially-troubled times. The projected cost of departmental program delivery in the Keewatin will decrease from 41 cents on the dollar, to 30 cents. Mr. Speaker, this translates into an actual operational saving of over $150,000 per year. The other participants in the partnership are also realizing cost-savings with improved service.
Mr. Speaker, the Kivalliq Partners in Development is a great example of aboriginal groups and government working together to better serve the public. The results are very encouraging. I would like to congratulate the participating organizations, the leadership and staff for their efforts and vision. Thank you.
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