Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess my concerns with ITI and some of the issues that are involved there are mostly issues that I have brought up in the House in the past while. We have been working through the business plan process and now I’m going to question that through the budget process of some of the activities that this department does for us trying to create and make sure that the economic development that is happening in the Northwest Territories is going to northern business. I have indicated concerns with the Business Incentive Policy, and that’s the implementation and how some of the contracts throughout the department, and I know it’s through the Business Incentive Policy that some of this is implemented, how some of the contacts are divided and implemented and some of them are bundled so large that we’re putting together packages for southern companies, basically. Most northern companies don’t have the capacity to handle most of the projects we’re putting together. I’d like to see the department work with all the… That they implement some of that Business Incentive Policy.

As well as some of the projects that are being worked on as far as economic development, such as the Tuk to Inuvik highway. We’re looking at a fibre optic line and we’re looking at the Mackenzie Valley Highway as well. I think we need to work on the Business Incentive Policy to ensure that all those contracts and jobs are kept in the North, maximizing the North, and making sure that those jobs go to Northerners and all the money multiplies in the North, and the department knows all the multipliers. They know what the ramifications are making those jobs in the North stay in the North.

The other areas of concerns are, obviously, looking at the department, and these would be some detailed questions about positions. There are a couple of additional positions and, of course, the two additional positions are both in Yellowknife. I’ve had concerns throughout departments, every department, about this. One of our priorities in this Assembly is to get jobs out into the regions, get it out to the communities, and I’m not seeing that in most of the departments, and this department is one fine example of that. We have questioned some of the positions and gotten some answers that I’m not exactly comfortable with, but we’ll discuss that in the details.

Along with that is the discussion on devolution and preparing for devolution. The Department of ITI is one of the departments that’s involved in devolution

and I just feel that if we don’t look at the decentralization and the positions that are continually growing in Yellowknife, devolution will pass us by and those jobs that are available will end up in Yellowknife and we’ll be back where we are, if not even worse, because more of the centralization, more migration of the people will come to Yellowknife because that’s where the jobs are.

I would like to see the department work with the mines and the socio-economic agreements. I’d like to try to reduce as much as we can. I know we have a limited workforce, but I’d like to see some of those numbers go up as far as the amount of Northerners. There’s still a great deal of people that are flying out of the North with the mines’ money in their pockets, with our money in their pockets, and not spending their money here. I’d like to cut down the jet traffic out of those mines. I think it’s important for us to somehow promote the North and make sure that people know that the North is where we want people that are working in the North to spend their money.

Another area of concern that I have is through the BDIC. They’ve indicated that the department is in the process of reviewing it. I’d like them to review some of their limits and some of their approval processes. Currently, the department has limited approval within the regions, and I believe that the superintendents in the regions have probably one of the better indicators of who would be one of the best people to approve larger loans. I’d like to see some of those limits increased, as well as some of the capacity for large borrowing for existing clients.

Obviously, the department’s involvement in the pipeline and investigating the pipeline and where it’s currently situated, as far as the economics of doing the pipeline, is it a venture that’s going to ever materialize. We have large questions of that. Those are some of the questions and concerns I have for the Department of ITI, and I’ll have more in the details. Thank you.