In fact, when I last met with the regional aboriginal leadership this issue of the Power Corporation came up and I informed them if they were interested in submitting a proposal, that we were open to that. So the fact is that since this has become public, we’ve let others know that we would look at proposals that would come forward that would work for us. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

As I indicated in my Member’s statement today, there’s been a lot of concern raised about the imminent fallout of this global recession and how it might impact the North. It’d like to ask the Minister of ITI what mechanism does ITI have to gauge the degree of impact that may be being experienced out there in the business community in the Northwest Territories already to date? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member knows, a large part of responsibility for

resource development lies with the federal government. We spend a large amount of time working with the federal government, so they would consider the impact of the global slowdown on the Northwest Territories. I think we’ve been successful with some of the recent announcements in the federal budget and also announcements with regard to a Northern Economic Development Agency for the North and for the extension of the Strategic Investments in Northern Economic Development for five years. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I’d like to ask the Minister if there are any known sources of additional lending capital for northern businesses. Now there is a limit, I’m sure, on what the BDIC has that loans or that applicants can subscribe to. Is the lending portfolio of the BDIC already fully subscribed? Has there been any thought given to an additional source of money for that lending fund? Thank you.

The last time I addressed the board of the BDIC I requested that they bring forward some recommendations as to how we as a government could assist the small northern businesses, and they’ve indicated that they would review this at their board meeting. They’ve also advised that the lending rates of the board, of the BDIC, have been reduced to coincide with the reductions of the Bank of Canada.

As well, we do have the Opportunities Fund that we have moved to make a passive fund more active and we will be working with the standing committee on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Minister also made reference to a federal program. I didn’t catch the exact name of it, but I was wondering if he could elaborate on it. Would it be something similar to the former Economic Development Agreement, which was a joint lending pool that was co-managed by the territorial and federal governments? Is that something that has been announced? Is it in the works? When will it become available? Thank you.

There were two parts to the federal announcement. One was the extension of the SINED program, which is Strategic Investments for Northern Economic Development. That’s $90 million over five years and that’s spread between the three territories. So essentially it’s about $6 million a year for the Northwest Territories for each year over five years. This is something that in the past was part of the EDA, except for the SINED, it’s delivered by the federal government.

Also, the Northern Economic Development Agency, where it hasn’t been determined where it will be located, but that agency has $10 million annually

allocated to it. My speculation is that it will operate something similar to the Western Arctic Diversification Fund or FedNor, some of those regional economic development programs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand that the Minister of ITI also has a panel that advises him on matters related to the economy. I’d like to know if that panel is still in place and have they met and has he received any feedback from them since this rather quickly...The onset of this recession and the escalating effects of it have been quite sudden. Has he had a chance to receive any feedback from that panel?

We’ve had very good response to a request to establish a ministerial advisory panel and we’ve now had nominations from all of the requested parties. We propose to have a meeting after both the federal and the territorial budgets were released, and we’re working to have a meeting in the very near future with the ministerial advisory panel to get some feedback as to what this government could be doing to deal with the slowdown.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Premier and is in regard to the statement I made and other Members have made in this House today. It is with regard to the Main Street Chipseal Program that was announced in previous governments and has been concluded with the income of this government.

I’d like to ask the Premier, with the $185 million under the Building Canada Fund and now with the timeline that we’re under to come forward and expend those dollars over the next two years, will the Premier consider looking at reinstating the Main Street Chipseal Program, of which a lot of legwork has already been done? We have identified 15 communities in the Northwest Territories and we did do the assessment work to implement this program. I’d like to ask the Premier if he will seriously consider looking at the possibility of reinstating this program so the communities can chipseal their main streets and, more importantly, deal with dust control in our communities.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To give the Minister the right information I’ll redirect that question to Minister Michael McLeod, who is the lead Minister on the Building Canada Fund and the work that’s been done in that area.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Michael McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue of dust and dust control in communities has been around for some time now, and this government, around 2003, had set up a program that would deal with putting chipseal on the main streets of our communities. That program has since wrapped up in 2007. The whole funding allocation to the communities has changed and over the last while, communities are getting funded on a formula basis. We’ve also increased the dollars available for capital from what was $17 million historically to $28 million now. We’ve also incorporated a Gas Tax Program through the federal government that provides, I think this year it’s going to be $15 million, and we also have the Building Canada Fund.

There is a lot of avenue for communities to spend money on chipseal. With the Building Canada money specifically, we work with the NWT Association of Communities and all the communities of the Northwest Territories to see what their priorities were in terms of bringing projects forward.

The initial request was to have the money flow on a formula basis that was outright rejected by the federal government. Communities then submitted projects and we have received 22 communities’ budgets and only one of those has included a dust suppressant. I think there is a huge shift now that the communities have dollars at their disposal. They can decide through their capital plan to use it on dust.

It would all be well if everybody had the capacity to take on this project, but the reason the dust control project was put with the Department of Transportation was because they had the engineering, design, and ability to lay chipseal. Most of the assessment work and design work was done by the Department of Transportation on behalf of MACA. I think the whole reason for that is because the communities do not have the capacity to do it in-house.

I’d like to ask the Minister again, knowing that there is one community that has requested $6 million to pave their streets, why is it that the 15 communities that requested the program that expired in 2007

have not had this program reinstated and funded through the Building Canada Fund, and not burden the communities with having to go back and do their reassessments and designs of the work that has already been done? The work’s already been done. Let’s get on with it.

I can’t explain why the communities set their priorities the way they did. I can explain that rather than having a $1 million budget for dust control in communities, a chipseal program, and $17 million earmarked for capital for a total of $18 million, we are now providing $49 million a year annually. Communities certainly have the avenue and the opportunity to use it on chipseal. I want to assure the Member that a lot of the communities are doing just that. They’re including it in the capital plan. But the Building Canada Fund has come forward with other options. There is one community that has identified it. We certainly can raise it with the Minister of MACA. We can certainly bring it to the attention of the NWT Association of Communities. But I don’t think the communities are going to shift their priorities.

Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, it sounds like a copout from this government to really do anything for small communities. Mr. Speaker, our communities are running a deficit at this time. They do not have the capacity to spend $5 million on chipseal in our communities, so let’s be realistic here. I’d like to ask the Minister, will you implement and reinstate this program and I’d like to know why it is that you are allowing one community to go ahead with a $6 million investment in chipseal of not allowing communities who do not have the capacity and this department does, for them to reinstate this program that was already in place beforehand.

Mr. Speaker, the situation has changed significantly since the Members looked at the program. Mr. Speaker, at the time, as indicated, the communities only had $17 million at their disposal for capital and only $1 million for the chipseal program. They are now at around $49 million a year for capital. That includes chipseal and we certainly have the opportunity to pay for the capacity that they require. Historically, they didn’t have that. It’s a whole new ballgame, Mr. Speaker. The communities are funded so they can deal with the capital issues and pressures in the communities, but they have to decide what their priorities are. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

I thought the Minister was responsible for Transportation, not MACA, yet he seems like he is the Minister of MACA. So I’d like

to ask the Minister of Transportation, could you get the work that has been done and give that information to communities in regards to the assessment reports, the planning that was done to identify chipseal for 15 communities in the Northwest Territories, so that those communities can use that work so they basically don’t have to go out and redo all this work again? The government has already put efforts in that by way of Transportation where they have done assessments and design for 15 communities. Will the Minister commit to that?