Oh, sorry. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a couple of things under ITI, Madam Chair. One to do with the review of BIP that's underway again, and just the overall role of the department in terms of the department being a think tank or a place where macroeconomic policy analysis, that sort of thing, could happen.
First of all, on the BIP issue, this is an issue that seems to, I don't know, you know? It's one of those babies with two heads or something. As long as I've been here, the BIP seems to be under review. There are lots of businesses who love it, who consider it sacred and who don't want to see anything changed, or at least not be eliminated even if there are changes that could be made to it. Then I think the Minister has made a compelling case there to change it or eliminate it and try to find other ways of benefiting northern businesses. So I am prepared to wait and see what the Minister comes up with and following the consultations he's doing and such.
One of the things that the businesses really want to see is to, if we are going to eliminate this policy or change them, do something that is genuinely in the interest of northern businesses and maybe we should look at changing the criteria. I mean, changing the criteria to address the needs of northern businesses, or there are those...I don't know. There are those who are saying that the changes to small business income tax, for example, may not be beneficial to everybody. Because for a lot of small businesses, mom-and-pop businesses or even bigger businesses than that, sometimes surviving is doing well. You know, if you can employ people and if you can get enough work to run the businesses, pay all your expenses, and pay salary for staff, which usually includes the owner and maybe the owner's family, you know, if the businesses survive, then it's a success. So that is the aspect of changing this that I was not aware of. So I'd like to ask the Minister, in his review of this policy, that he looks at the scenarios about a sector of our business section that would not be covered by cuts in income tax alone if the BIP is done away with and the small tax change regime is supposed to help these businesses, but there might be some businesses that might not be helped by that.
I just want to state in the general comments section that I will be looking at some of the details that the Minister is going to come up with on this BIP review, and I'm sure we'll have more opportunities to speak about that.
I do agree with those who stated in this House that the contract registry should be moved. I'm not sure if that should be hinged on changes to BIP. I think it could still happen independently of each other. I think it's something
that's been in the works for awhile. That should be done as soon as possible. I agree with that position.
On a larger picture, I have been, I'd like to, I guess we're not going to have the Minister's answer to any questions in this way until we get to the detail, but I am interested in what the role of ITI is in terms of driving the economic machine of the Territories. I think there is a role to play there and I know that ITI has a section on economic analysis and it is the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Or is it the other way around? Sorry. Industry, Tourism and Investment. So we do care about investments that should be coming into our Territories and such, and in my questions about...I know the department I'm sure has a section there that studies that, looks at the potential, positive investment opportunities and impacts for the mega projects like pipeline and such, and the one that we have been talking a lot about is the new housing concept from ABCD Company.
I'm always surprised to learn when I ask questions like, you know, are government departments talking to each other. You know, I would think that from a layperson's point of view, because I am almost a layperson in this regard even though I'm a part of this Assembly, I do not know all of the ins and outs and details of work that's being done in these departments. But still, from where I stand, I look at it and go, okay, there's this government's policy, it's a major policy even if it's a housing issue, it is an opportunity that we're looking for that comes out of this mega project. I just take it for granted that ITI will be looking at all aspects of potential benefits and do economic and risk analysis about what does this mean, how can we maximize our benefit, how can we minimize the risks, and such. So I don't really know what kind of work and there might be a lot of work being done by ITI that I'm not aware of in this regard. I know that when I get visitors from outside of the jurisdiction looking for economic opportunities in the North, I always send them to ITI and they get excellent briefings from the department about every sector of the economy here. But I am not seeing the concrete information that tells me that ITI is really involved in looking at all aspects of the potential benefits that the GNWT could have on pipeline development or housing projects that derives from that and see how do we best incorporate our interest in that.
I could say the same about training opportunities and, in fact, I think I've asked those questions, and so far what I've been told is we're going to stand back and see what's going to happen with this project and we'll get involved later. I think that's not the best way to go about that. I think all the departments should be putting their heads together and see what best we can do. I mean, maybe the Business Development Investment Corporation, the new ITI even could be put into that.
I know the department has economists. I know the Finance department will be funded for new positions on economic analysis, and I know the government relies on the Bureau of Stats and such for that sort of analysis, but I'd be interested in knowing, at an appropriate time, about what kind of work this department does to see that they do look at the mega projects.
Another thing that connects between the BIP review and ITI, for example, is the fact that this department is considering eliminating the BIP policy, but we have this $500 million potential housing project that's coming in and that project is operating completely independently, almost, from the BIP review. I think, as I've stated many times before, there are many businesses in the Territories who just stay around, who are committed to the North, they train and hire people, they go through all the up and downs of the economic times looking for a break, and there's not going to be any bigger break, and I agree with that, than this pipeline development. I think that it is the role of the government and the department, to help people and businesses figure out, okay, what is the best economic potential out of this and how do we place our government, and our businesses, and our industries, and everybody into a best place for them to maximize that potential. I think every good national government, every good provincial and territorial government would be one that would do really deep thinking in that regard and have a real concrete and clear plan about how every sector of their society and their people who could benefit from that.
That's my general comment for now and I'm sure we'll have a lot more opportunities to discuss further. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.