Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Another area I have concerns with is regarding the economic development sector and the service we provide in that area. We have some $695,000 for community economic development officers. I have seen the programs in the communities. The money they get is not sufficient for the cost of living. Trying to attract someone with a background in economic development and trying to access dollars for economic development projects is hard. You cannot attract people for that amount of money and live in an isolated community with the cost of living.
I feel we have to work closer with the different economic development areas we have. We have the Northwest Territories Business Credit Corporation, the Northwest Territories Development Corporation, we have aboriginal corporations in place now. We have to somehow consolidate all of these dollars we have and make better use of them and streamline those dollars so they go to specific regions and areas.
By having more access to capital, we are able to do more. Without having the groups consolidate themselves into one agency or organization to work along with other institutions, we have to have the ability to move some of this money around. A lot of money has been spent through the Northwest Territories Business Credit Corporation and also the Development Corporation in the southern part of the Northwest Territories - Yellowknife, Hay River - those areas in which a lot of those loans were given out.
When it comes to the northern part of the Northwest Territories, or even the communities, they have had very little access to those dollars. In order for any community to get ahead, we need access to capital. I feel there has to be a better way of streamlining this money so communities and regions are able to access this capital.
I would like to ask the Minister if he would consider looking at consolidating these different economic strategies so we can streamline them and be more accountable to the people it is supposed to serve by making sure there are capital dollars there for the business community to access. Thank you.