Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. While they are not strictly and literally in the gallery, I’d just like to recognize two of the pages, Danielle Soucy and Nicole Labine. I thank them for their services.

I recognize the two pages from the Sahtu, Miss Emily Collier and Mr. Luc Erb from Norman Wells.

Mr. Speaker, I can’t see whether or not my constituent is still there, but Barb Wyness, a representative with UNW and a constituent of Frame Lake, is in the gallery, I believe. I, too, would like to recognize one of the pages. Harper Sateana-

Barr is working with us this week and doing a fine job.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to represent all of the members of the UNW.

Interjection.

I don’t represent them all, but I’ve certainly seen them around a lot lately, and I want to thank them for the fine job they are doing, representing their constituents. Thank you.

Mr.

Speaker, I’d like to

recognize Gayla Wick, a UNW representative and a constituent from Yellowknife South. Also, Mr. Steve Bedingfield, a long-time colleague on the NEBS board.

I’d also like to recognize a constituent of mine, Roy Courtoreille, in the gallery. He’s the regional vice-president for UNW. If we missed anyone else in the gallery, welcome to the Legislative Assembly. Hope you enjoy the proceedings.

Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mr.

Speaker, all week I drew

comparisons between smaller communities and the larger centres. I understand the smaller communities cannot have high schools with full curriculua like the larger centres, arenas and even indoor swimming pools. However, I’d like to ask the Premier if he has had any Cabinet discussions on closing the gap between larger centres and the smaller communities.

Thank you, Mr.

Beaulieu. The

Hon. Premier, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, indeed, we have, when we talked about the services, the vision and goals of the 16th Legislative

Assembly. One of the areas we look at is strategic action supporting small and sustainable remote communities. We’ve had a number of discussions flowing throughout a number of initiatives that we’ve highlighted, whether it’s Reducing the Cost of Living, Building Our Future, Refocusing Government. There are a number of factors in each area that we want to put some energy into and focus on through the life of this Assembly to reduce those gaps the Member has highlighted.

Mr. Speaker, as we begin the work of the 16th Legislative Assembly to get through

this budget cycle, we’re prepared to move into these areas and look at that work. There has been much work done; for example, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, when it comes to their funding formulas; Education, Culture and Employment; Health and Social Services. There are different frameworks out there when it comes to the level of service in communities. We want to bring those to the table, as we’d had the questions in the House by the Member regarding a role with the committees and Members of this Assembly. I think that’s the area we can get into. A number of these approaches we can take through that joint committee.

Mr. Speaker, in addition to setting up a joint committee to address these issues, would the Premier put this project or this initiative on the Cabinet agenda so that this does not lose its focus during this Assembly?

In fact, this morning we were talking in Cabinet about pulling together the information that we can sit down with Members on and come up with a joint process of dealing with these issues. So yes, it will remain on our roles and strategic actions as we work through this Assembly.

Thank you, Mr.

Roland. Final

supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to seek the Premier’s opinion. I’d like to ask the Premier if he agrees that the level of service to our citizens is not balanced between small communities and larger centres. Thank you.

I think it would be fairly straightforward for us, as Members, whether we’re representing small communities or larger centres. When we travel throughout the North, we can clearly see there are differences in our larger centres that have a healthy economic sector versus the small community that could be traditionally based.

There are large gaps; we recognize that. That’s why part of our strategic action is supporting sustainable communities. That is looking at the level of service we provide and the delivery methods. We can also bring to the table the fact that as a government we’ve recognized these when it comes to trying to put more resources into those communities.

Unfortunately, the smaller we go, the harder it is to come up with the right balance when you talk about investment in our communities and the cost per capita. We recognize that, and we’d like to sit down with Members and bring all of the information to the table.

Thank you, Mr.

Roland. Oral

questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement today I talked about the way in which the market disruption policy was interpreted when approving applications for business development funding. I’d like to ask the Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment what process his department uses to assess the potential for market disruptions when they’re receiving and reviewing funding applications.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.

With regard to the business programs we deliver, market disruption is one of the principles that is at the foundation of all of our programs. So for any applications we receive, we ensure that we do due diligence to ensure there’s no possibility of market disruption.

I think the Minister is aware of the situation I brought to his attention, where one business is producing something in a community and getting business development funds to bring that product into Hay River to compete directly and head-on with existing businesses in Hay River. Now, this may be a bit of an anomaly, but it has happened. What could the Minister tell me to assure me that that type of thing would not be accepted — that it would be part of the application for the applicant to tell where they’re planning to market their product?

As we develop programs — and programs have been in place for some time — we evolve with regard to our policies.

Under the current policy the example the Member outlined is perfectly within our policy, whereby there’s no market disruption because it’s limited to the community where the assistance has been requested and provided. I’d like to advise the Member that we are changing our policies. We are introducing our new SEED program — Support to Entrepreneurs and Economic Development — which will be rolling out sometime this month.