This is page numbers 431 - 469 of the Hansard for the 13th Assembly, 7th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was chairman.

Committee Motion 25-13(7): Resurrecting And Priorizing The Northern Accord Proposal
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 449

Stephen Kakfwi

Stephen Kakfwi Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. These are done largely through the Financial Management Board Secretariat and so the question properly goes to the Minister of Finance, Mr. Dent.

Committee Motion 25-13(7): Resurrecting And Priorizing The Northern Accord Proposal
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 449

The Chair

The Chair Jake Ootes

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Mr. Henry.

Committee Motion 25-13(7): Resurrecting And Priorizing The Northern Accord Proposal
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 449

Seamus Henry Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, I certainly understand that the Minister of the Financial Management Board would be aware of those figures. I believe Mr. Kakfwi's department has the lead in this group that assists the diamond industry in procuring these amounts of money. I had an anticipation that the Minister would be aware of the amounts of money that the department had committed. Maybe this question would be still appropriate. From the perspective of, the Minister has mentioned that he is looking at two other potential groups that wish to start. I think it would be important that the Minister, as the lead Minister, would be aware of those numbers because it would be important for the ministry to know that those amounts were not being exceeded and that the public of the Northwest Territories' interest were being protected. Could the Minister at least tell me what protections are in place to protect the interest of the public funds under those guarantees? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Committee Motion 25-13(7): Resurrecting And Priorizing The Northern Accord Proposal
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 449

The Chair

The Chair Jake Ootes

Thank you, Mr. Henry. Mr. Minister.

Committee Motion 25-13(7): Resurrecting And Priorizing The Northern Accord Proposal
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 449

Stephen Kakfwi

Stephen Kakfwi Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is true that I am the lead Minister in regard to dealing with proposals regarding value-added activities in diamonds in the Northwest Territories. As far as the proposal is concerned, the component that deals with loan guarantees that are required by these proposals are dealt with almost exclusively by the Financial Management Board Secretariat, and so it is the Minster of Finance who deals with the details of it. What is being required so far is one for Sirius Diamonds that says we are providing a loan guarantee of up to, I think presently, about $2.5 million. It is all properly secured through the Financial Management Board Secretariat. The total loan guarantee can increase over the next few years, as required, but it will completely be no longer required, I believe, in five years. I believe if the chair allows, the Minister of Finance could provide more detail if it is required by the Member.

Committee Motion 25-13(7): Resurrecting And Priorizing The Northern Accord Proposal
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 449

The Chair

The Chair Jake Ootes

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Would the Minister of the Financial Management Board be in a position to address this issue? Mr. Dent.

Committee Motion 25-13(7): Resurrecting And Priorizing The Northern Accord Proposal
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 449

Charles Dent

Charles Dent Yellowknife Frame Lake

Yes, Mr. Chairman. The loan guarantee has been approved to Sirius Diamonds, as the Minister has said. The amount initially is up to $5 million with a potential for increase to $10 million. Arctic Diamonds was approved for loan guarantees up to $3.3 million, Detah Cho for up to $5 million. These loans are only approved. The only one that has to date been implemented is the one for Sirius when a memorandum of agreement has been drawn up and approved. This is drawn up by the Government of the Northwest Territories solicitors, and it sets out all of the terms under which the government will provide the guarantees. They are quite stringent. They fall just short of requiring a first-born son, but they are extremely stringent in how they are set out to protect the interests of the government. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Committee Motion 25-13(7): Resurrecting And Priorizing The Northern Accord Proposal
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 449

The Chair

The Chair Jake Ootes

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Further questions? Mr. Henry.

Committee Motion 25-13(7): Resurrecting And Priorizing The Northern Accord Proposal
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 449

Seamus Henry Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe this is the type of assurance that the people in the territories need to know, that it is not just a free-for-all. I thank the Minister for those comments. Moving on, Mr. Chairman, to the forest management. This government spends tremendous amounts of money each year in fire protection and fire control. I am wondering if the Minister could identify, over the years, of how much marketable timber has been saved by the amount of dollars that has gone into this area? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Committee Motion 25-13(7): Resurrecting And Priorizing The Northern Accord Proposal
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 449

The Chair

The Chair Jake Ootes

Thank you, Mr. Henry. Mr. Minister.

Committee Motion 25-13(7): Resurrecting And Priorizing The Northern Accord Proposal
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 449

Stephen Kakfwi

Stephen Kakfwi Sahtu

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do not know that we have the capacity to do that. As Members are aware, we do allocate a certain number of dollars every year to put into forest inventory, that is to do surveys on assessing the potential in different parts of the North such as the Liard River, the Slave River, and other parts of the North where timber harvesting is being suggested or being carried out. We have probably just a very rough guess at what the market value of the forest inventory up and down the Mackenzie Valley is. We could take a stab at figuring how much of it actually goes up in smoke every year and therefore, over a number of years. I say, I would only be guessing at it. Thank you.

Committee Motion 25-13(7): Resurrecting And Priorizing The Northern Accord Proposal
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 449

The Chair

The Chair Jake Ootes

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Henry.

Committee Motion 25-13(7): Resurrecting And Priorizing The Northern Accord Proposal
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 449

Seamus Henry Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe it was last year, I had worked along with my colleague from Hay River to assist some entrepreneurs to obtain some permits to do some logging. I believe the name of that organization was Pattersons and it had been recognized as being very productive in creating jobs in the territories. I recall at that time it was extremely

difficult to get permits to get areas accessible to assist in creating jobs and getting at this lumber. Could I ask the Minister for an update from the perspective, are there areas where timber stands are available for cutting? Are there areas that have been identified for entrepreneurs such as the people I talked about available for production? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Committee Motion 25-13(7): Resurrecting And Priorizing The Northern Accord Proposal
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 450

The Chair

The Chair Jake Ootes

Thank you, Mr. Henry. Mr. Handley.

Committee Motion 25-13(7): Resurrecting And Priorizing The Northern Accord Proposal
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 450

Handley

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, we continue to do forest inventory each year. Sometimes we have difficulty with operators wanting to go into a specific area. We have two kinds of challenges. One is whether the inventory has been completed in that area, and second, whether timber has been assigned to another operator. In the case you speak of, it was a combination of both of those factors, but we were able to accommodate the company. There are forested areas available all the way from Fort Liard all down toward Jean Marie River, Fort Providence, Cameron Hills area, Fort Smith, Fort Resolution area, those are all available now, except some of it is assigned to other operators and some of it there is not complete inventory on yet.

Committee Motion 25-13(7): Resurrecting And Priorizing The Northern Accord Proposal
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 450

The Chair

The Chair Jake Ootes

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Henry.

Committee Motion 25-13(7): Resurrecting And Priorizing The Northern Accord Proposal
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 450

Seamus Henry Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Do I get from the deputy minister's comments that indeed there are stands of marketable lumber available for entrepreneurs to harvest presently? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Committee Motion 25-13(7): Resurrecting And Priorizing The Northern Accord Proposal
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 450

The Chair

The Chair Jake Ootes

Thank you, Mr. Henry. Mr. Handley.

Committee Motion 25-13(7): Resurrecting And Priorizing The Northern Accord Proposal
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 450

Handley

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, there are stands available within limited amounts.

Committee Motion 25-13(7): Resurrecting And Priorizing The Northern Accord Proposal
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 450

The Chair

The Chair Jake Ootes

Further questions, Mr. Henry.

Committee Motion 25-13(7): Resurrecting And Priorizing The Northern Accord Proposal
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 450

Seamus Henry Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Earlier today in question period, I had asked the Minister some questions on the Development Corporation and the Minister had noted a couple of days ago in the House that there were grants through the Development Corporation as high as $700,000. Could the Minister give the House a little information regarding approximately how many jobs are created for the subsidy of $700,000 or a subsidy of $300,000. I know they would all vary with the types of industry they are in, but if the Minister could give us a little bit of background on the number of jobs that are created so the committee can get a handle on approximately each year what it costs to provide jobs. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Committee Motion 25-13(7): Resurrecting And Priorizing The Northern Accord Proposal
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 450

The Chair

The Chair Jake Ootes

Thank you, Mr. Henry. Mr. Koe.

Committee Motion 25-13(7): Resurrecting And Priorizing The Northern Accord Proposal
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 450

Koe

Thank you. The general guidelines used for our contributions is a job equivalent, one job or one person working would be equivalent to a contribution of around $100,000 in capital or around $10,000 in subsidies. That is the general guideline that was set quite a few years ago and we are now looking at these standards and reviewing whether they are equitable in today's economy or not.

Committee Motion 25-13(7): Resurrecting And Priorizing The Northern Accord Proposal
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 450

The Chair

The Chair Jake Ootes

Thank you, Mr. Koe. Mr. Henry.

Committee Motion 25-13(7): Resurrecting And Priorizing The Northern Accord Proposal
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters

Page 450

Seamus Henry Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Do I understand that the answer to that last question was that if an organization approached the Development Corporation and were able to show that they were going to be able to create a job, they would have, at least access or ability to put in an application for $110,000. Thank you.