Minister of ITI.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We do have a going forward agreement which has been renewed this year. I guess the potential is up to... The total amount in the going forward agreement is for $3.2 million over a four-year period.

So the past couple of years have been laying the groundwork for that, perhaps. That’s a question. Do we know how we will be spending those dollars? Maybe I could just get a sense of where we’re at with that and the role the Territorial Farmers’ Association has had, if any, in developing that.

This I guess has been around for quite a few years. This is the latest extension. We have met with the Territorial Farmers’ Association and there’s a whole host of initiatives that potentially could be funded through this agreement. I guess we say “potentially” because it’s quite a rigorous paper process to access the funding. Some of the initiatives include small-scale foods, northern agri-foods, commercial game harvest, traditional harvest, inter-settlement trade, environment, Bison Strategy, national strategic initiatives. That’s what we’re looking at there.

Are those funds that the public can apply for? Is that an onerous process for the GNWT? Is that the process for GNWT to apply for? If it’s the public, is there assistance for the public with that onerous application process?

It depends on the initiative. So, for example, the small-scale foods, members of the public would apply on that. Some of the others are only for, I guess, industry types or government or communities, I would expect.

How do we get this information out to those that might be interested, be they industry or community people?

Our regional offices will be providing that information to the communities. We have met with the TFA and set up that process for doing so.

I’ll just ask, it sounds like the department is well along on this. If there are appropriate public alert mechanisms for the different... It sounds like there are different programs or funds, small-scale foods and so on might be a general public thing, so there would be a different way of getting that word out. The Territorial Farmers’ Association might be really plugged into this and so on. I just ask that the department make sure that publicizing these opportunities is done in an appropriate manner for the clients.

More of a comment. Would you like to reply, Mr. McLeod?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It’s our intention to do so. If the Member has any suggestions, we’d appreciate that as well.

Page 12-36, Industry, Tourism and Investment, information item, work performed on behalf of others.

Page 12-37, Industry, Tourism and Investment, information item, work performed on behalf of others, continued. Mr. Yakeleya.

I just want to ask the same question as on the previous page on the programs that don’t show any funding for this year. Is that similar to my other questions on the previous page?

Minister of ITI.

That’s correct.

Thank you. Just on the Rare in Nature we have main estimates of $250,000 and then you go down to $100,000. I’d like to ask the Minister the reasons for the decrease in those numbers.

I guess that’s a direct reflection of the downturn in the economy. The production of diamonds was down and the sale of diamonds was down. So, consequently, the revenue collected from the certification program was down as well.

Page 12-37, Industry, Tourism and Investment, information item, work performed on behalf of others, continued.

Page 12-38, Industry, Tourism and Investment, information item, work performed on behalf of others, continued.

Return to page 12-7, Industry, Tourism and Investment, department summary, operations expenditure summary, $51.752 million.