Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As it is officially Small Business Week in Canada, I would like to make some comments today on small business in the Northwest Territories and some of the problems they face.

We have many small businesses here in the Northwest Territories. The majority are located in the larger centres of Yellowknife, Inuvik and Hay River. However, we have many small businesses in our communities. The small business owner is required to be familiar with all aspects of running a business. This includes being familiar with the products and services one is providing, marketing of their goods, dealing with customers, maintaining and understanding financial records, dealing with lenders, banks, accountants, lawyers and government.

While many of these small business owners are providing excellent products or services, they lack some of the management skills or resources to effectively operate their business. Statistics associated with the failure of small businesses confirm that approximately one-third fail within the first year of startup. By year five, approximately two-thirds are out of business.

Mr. Speaker, the reason for such failure is lack of management, experience and resources. Small businesses that start up often find themselves undercapitalized, which results in immediate problems. When combined with minimal or no support after startup, the blueprint is for failure.

Mr. Speaker, I am aware of instances where early into the fiscal year, small business owners, or those wanting to start a small business, are informed by our government representatives that there is no financial support available. They are informed that all current funds for the year have been allocated and there will be no funds available until next year. They are being told to come back in March and make application for assistance then and hopefully there will be financial assistance available to them. In a small community where the government is the only game in town, this becomes very discouraging.

Mr. Speaker, this government encourages and works hard to assist big business. Therefore, it must have the same attitude towards small business by encouraging, and not discouraging, development of our small business sector. Mr. Speaker, since the economic development agreement between Canada and the Northwest Territories expired in 1996, program dollars...