Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this may be the first time in history when it costs less to charter an aircraft than it does to drive down a highway. Mr. Speaker, the $18,000 just seems such an unbelievable amount as extra costs for all these things that we've been talking about. Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the Minister could give me a commitment. Would he agree to put the decision to remove remand services from Hay River on hold until we have a chance to look at a more in-depth cost-benefit analysis of this particular move? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This initiative is included in the budget that is before this House. I am confident that the savings that we have proposed are real and I am not intending to withdraw it from the budget. It's come forward and it's part of the government's program right now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Today my question is for the honourable Minister of RWED with respect to foreign investment into the NWT. Previously we had an aurora fund. What kind of vehicle do we have today to stimulate foreign investment into the NWT? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Bell.

In the past we did benefit from aurora fund one and aurora fund two. It is my understanding that the current initiative being headed up by Canada is called the opportunities fund. We've signed up to be a partner in that. Not all provinces have, but we anticipate as that process is unveiled we'll have access to money and then we'll have to sit down and are prepared to sit down with committee to talk about how this government would best utilize those resources that could flow from that opportunities fund. It's based on the same premise. It's an immigrant investor fund. People pay a certain amount of money which is returned to them after an amount of time and that can be used for an agreed upon purpose. The difference this time, as in past we had to go and solicit and market our own investment, this time Canada's doing it on our behalf and then they're parceling out the money to provinces and territories who have signed up. I'm not sure we exactly know quite yet what our share of the money will be, but we know we've signed up. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I was just not quite certain what we as a government are doing to stimulate or encourage foreign investment. It doesn't have to be in the regions, it can be in the communities, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. I didn't hear a question there. Did you want to rephrase that statement into a question, Mr. Menicoche?

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The question was for the RWED Minister. What is our government doing to stimulate and encourage investment into the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's a difficult question. The immigrant investor fund is one potential vehicle, but, as I've said, Canada administers that. So if the Member is asking about the specific activities of this government to solicit foreign investment, I don't think that we're actively pursuing investment in that regard. I think one of our challenges, and we've seen other jurisdictions, we know the Natural Resources Minister was in China recently and had some other provinces and I believe the Yukon territory in tow as well. We don't get the lion's share of revenues that flow from resources, so I suspect that we're not in the same boat as a jurisdiction like the Yukon seeking to make sure their resources are developed so their coffers benefit from that. Ours really wouldn't and we're obviously faced with that dilemma and I think that affects how vigorously we try to pursue foreign investment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister tell me if we do have a dedicated resource person within the department to address the question of foreign investment? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Bell.

No, Mr. Speaker, I don't believe we do. We do have an investment and economic analysis division in my department which does a lot of economic modelling and helps us understand the benefit of resources. But much of our aspirations obviously are hinged on devolution and control over lands and resources and when the resources start to flow, when the royalties start to flow from resources, I suspect we'll have a discussion at that point about how we best want to see the development of our resources. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I was just wondering if our new business development, the BDIC, would be flexible enough to work with, say, Industry Canada for foreign investments into the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Bell.

Mr. Speaker, I think one of the advantages we talked about with the BDIC is that it's certainly not as prescriptive as our existing legislation. So if there are local entrepreneurs who would like to partner with other agencies or would like to try and generate foreign investment, I don't think it's a matter of investors having to immigrate to the country to be able to invest in NWT businesses. I think there are a number of partnership approaches that could be taken. We do have currently some businesses in the Northwest Territories that are either partially or wholly owned by foreigners. It's, I think, a matter of really setting up a Canadian company in order to be able to invest here. So that's certainly possible and BDIC can work with anybody and then if the Member has anybody who's interested in this regard, please send them our way and we'll sit down with our officials and talk about what the possibilities are. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this afternoon are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment in his role as one of the departments responsible for the NWT Arts Strategy. Mr. Speaker, it's been well publicized that a couple of the NWT's premier festivals are not in good financial or organizational shape. I wanted to ask the Minister what avenues of support does his department make available to festivals and events in the NWT. Thank you.