Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I move that this committee recommends that an interpretive bison centre be established at Chan Lake.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The motion is in order. To the motion.

Question has been called. All those in favour? One sec, committee, the motion has to be distributed first.

Thank you, Committee of the Whole, the motion has been distributed. To the motion. Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

---Applause

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Next on the list, Mr. Villeneuve.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Just another quick question just to elaborate on what my colleague Mr. Yakeleya was asking the Minister about. Six months ago there was talk in this House about the eradication of the BIP policy by this government and now a month ago the BIP seems to be a blip on the government's radar screen again. So I just want to ask the Minister what are the government's plans for the business incentive policy over the next quarter, or the next six months?

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Madam Chair. As I think Members know, I'm in discussions with the chambers around the North and the business community more broadly. All the business community stakeholders have had a chance to sit down with the NWT Chamber. They are engaging their membership in this discussion to talk about the BIP, membership's perceptions of the BIP, whether or not people still think it's relevant and useful. I have discussed with them options for replacing the BIP with one option that we were looking at is a tax break for small business, what would amount to potentially a 50 percent break in the small business tax rate, from four to two percent. These are options at this point. We're trying to get some feedback from the small business community and that will continue for the next little while, a couple of months, but I would like to resolve this issue one way or another fairly quickly here in the spring. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Alright, springtime something is going to role out with the BIP. My next question is, I know the BIP is one of those government policies that seems to work for businesses, northern businesses in the larger urban centres of the NWT like Yellowknife and Hay River, Smith and Norman Wells and Inuvik. What about sort of not eradicating the BIP, but is there an appetite for this government to revisit the policy and make it applicable only to maybe smaller communities in the NWT, the more remote communities that only have one or two small businesses and maybe one development corporation and not much competition so the BIP really doesn't apply within the limits of the municipality itself, but it basically will apply for giving them an advantage over southern industries, which is what the intent of the BIP was developed for in the first place. So maybe the government has to take a two-tiered approach on how to change the BIP policy, or how to make some amendments to it. One being make some changes to the BIP policy itself with the small large communities being split on that policy and maybe one that will apply to one but not the other, and maybe give some small business tax breaks to small businesses in the larger centres where there are more small businesses and the tax breaks would be more appreciative. Is there any appetite to even look at that approach as opposed to whether to get rid of it or not and do something else or not? What about like a two-phased approach?

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Bell.

Madam Chair, as I say, we are in discussion around a number of options and presumably these are the kinds of discussions we're going to have. If we make the conclusion that the BIP is no longer working or serving our needs, then if not the BIP, then what, and I think that's the discussion that we're going to have. I would say, though, that some of the feedback that I can give just maybe only anecdotally was that there's been some concern in our smaller communities about the application of BIP and the premiums that people would have to pay say for, I'll use the example of a housing package. If the BIP applies and somebody has to pay 15 or 20 percent more for a housing package in a small community, that may be a price that they don't feel they should rightly have to pay. So there are some questions or concerns around BIP application even in small communities. So I hesitate to suggest that we would look at it only for small communities at this point without knowing how small communities feel about the BIP and feel about how that might affect their costs. So I think we need to do and have a little more discussion in this area, but I appreciate the thought from the Member. I think what we need is more discussion and more brainstorming around this, because I am fairly convinced that what we have now doesn't work. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I know that there are definitely pros and cons to the BIP in the small and the large centres, but I guess the point I'm trying to drive home is when is this government, you know, maybe ITI could start the ball rolling, going to start realizing and recognizing that small communities are much different than our larger urban centres in the NWT, especially the remote communities and the policies that this government develops whether it's the business incentive policy or a housing initiative or any program, income assistance initiatives, it's always straight across the board, it applies to larger and smaller centres and there are different levels that communities are split into. Why can't we just start looking at two different policies like

for negotiated contracts, for BIPs, for any economic development initiatives like the harvesters fund and the trappers assistance and stuff like that, and start really supporting small communities on the one policy front and supporting large communities on another. Why can't this government do that? Why don't they start doing that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Bell.

Madam Chair, I appreciate the thoughts from the Member and I think there are several tools that we have at our disposal that do recognize the differences between small and large communities, recognize the differences in capacity. Just even before some of our specific economic development programs, I would say that our support and sponsorship of the traditional economy is exactly trying to attempt to narrow that gap between our larger communities, where there are well-established economies, and our smaller ones where we recognize the economy and the markets aren't established yet. So that is one area that we're trying to promote and think is mostly targeted obviously at the smaller communities.

Another example would be the MOUs that we have and are negotiating; the one with the Gwich'in, the one in the Sahtu region coming up. Those discussions, I think, are going to be around trying to develop economic capacity in those regions and using our procurement process to do that. So that's another tool where we're using government buy-in and trying to focus some of our government buy-in outside of the main centres. Members are all very much aware of negotiated contracts, the attempt to build capacity through negotiated contracts over a period of time so that smaller communities can, in fact, compete.

I'd also point to the BDF programs that we have. Most of the grant money I would say that we have is earmarked for our smaller communities, and I think Members know in the BDF schedule that we referred to level one, two and three communities and I think the bulk of our funding does end up in the smaller communities through BDF. We tend to reserve the loans for the larger communities and the grants to the smallest communities. We recognize banks are not likely going to start to play an active role in our smallest communities. We feel there is a role and is a need there, and that's one that our government can fulfill, that's why we've laid out this BDF. But I absolutely agree with the Member; there are differences between our smaller and larger communities. We have to recognize that. We have to take the tools that we have, correctly apply them and always be looking for new ways to try to bridge that gap. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Villeneuve.

Okay, I'm done on this page. Thank you.

Thank you. I have Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Bell.

Madam Chair, I am just going to get a bit of a breakdown of that funding for the Member. Madam Chair, of that $22 million, we break out the budget between parks and tourism, about $7 million; investment and economic analysis, 11.4; the NWT BDIC, 3.7; and some small amount for amortization. The contribution amounts, tourism and parks has a grants and contributions amount of $1.9 million, I think that's the number the Member is looking for in that area; investment and economic analysis, $5.5 million; traditional economy, $1.5 million; BDIC is really programs and operating costs at about $3.7 million. So that gives you some sense of the contributions that are out there. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. When you are dealing with an entity like the BDIC, it could just be reported a little bit better because when I look at the budget as it's presented, immediately you can take off 40 percent of the projected budget for other expenses and compensation and benefits. That eats up 40 percent right off the top. I think it's important that we try to...and I know the Minister and his department work towards the one-window approach and trying to get this business program review underway. How comprehensive is this review? I know it was started a number of months back, maybe even a year ago, if I'm not mistaken. When is it going to be completed and when will we know the future of the programming available to businesses here in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Bell.