Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wanted to talk today about government programs with poor uptake, or government programs that are not very well subscribed. I would like to start at the federal level because we have talked quite a bit in this House about programs that are offered by the federal government that we might be able to tap into, housing, for example. We know there is money out there for homelessness, Mr. Speaker, but we find when we get to the nuts and bolts of the issue and talking to the department that there are so many criteria in getting any funding that it just ends up being too onerous to access.

In the health area, we know there is a little bit of money out there for FAS/FAE, but it ends up being so little money after the administration is factored in that it is hardly worth the effort and it turns out that many of the projects have to be national in scope.

Mr. Speaker, given that we are very aware that there are federal programs that we just cannot tie into, it amazes me that in our budget we want to discuss increasing business investment and point to the fact that we provide incentives through the income tax system for Northerners to invest in northern businesses. We point out specifically the Risk Capital Investment Tax Program which provides a credit equal to 30 percent of eligible investments up to a maximum credit of $30,000.

Mr. Speaker, when I first heard the Minister discuss this, I did remember hearing about it in the past, and I thought, "That is a great idea. I am going to go on the government website and look into this." Well, it turns out that when you look at the companies that have been able to register and are eligible, there are a grand total of three companies, Mr. Speaker, in the last three or four years since the inception of this program.

It is pathetic. You wonder why, but when you dig into it you realize that the conditions on registration for a business, the fees, the disclosure, all of these things are so incredibly difficult. There are so many hoops to jump through that make it almost useless for any small business. There is a whole section on what you cannot use the money for, if you are able to raise it. It also tells you that you might be able to issue shares and offer up minority interest in your business, issue equity in effect, but what about debt? It is not really clear. If you are not looking to dilute the ownership of your business, can you offer a guaranteed rate debt instrument? I am not really sure. Maybe you can, Mr. Speaker.

My point is, we do admit that there has been a limited uptake in this program, but we suggest that we plan to market the existing program more aggressively. There are certain things, Mr. Speaker, that we are not going to be able to put a shine on and I would suggest that this is one of them. I hope the Minister will look at the other option he mentioned, which is examining the revision of this program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause