I have a question for the Minister. In his statement he mentioned the $1 million they have to invest, especially through the subsidiaries. I have been working with the organizations within my region trying to access dollars from this government, but at our regional offices they are saying they do not have any money. But knowing that we have $1 million to invest in the Northwest Territories through the NWT Development Corporation, I find it hard to believe that we cannot even get $20,000 out of this government to do a preliminary study to access federal dollars.
I would like to know exactly what the government is doing to ensure that small communities and regions outside Yellowknife are able to access dollars from this government. It seems that because everything is based out of Yellowknife, they have better access to the boards and better access to the departments. Yet at the regional level, where resources are needed because we do not have any economic development agreements in place, or resources at the regional level. Or if it has been there, it seems as if it has vanished.
I would like to ask the Minister exactly what he is doing to improve the relationship between the regional centres outside Yellowknife, and also the small communities, so they can take advantage of the monies that are within the organizations such as the NWT Development Corporation, where they say that they have an investment of $1 million that they can look at? I would like to ask the Minister, what are they doing to improve that relationship?