Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, the Member asked us some of these questions in the House. First of all, this program is not very old. It's only been around since 2015, and I get the Member's point on how do we track and make this even a better program, considering some of the successes that we've had with some of the other stuff that ITI has done. We're working on a few different things. As I've said in the House, we launched a new website. Going forward, we've tried to streamline and simplify our process to make the process more clear and more user-friendly going forward. We're getting information kits out to N. Good Consultants, and stuff; and we will continue to work on that.

As I said in the House, myself and the deputy and the department are having different conversations about attracting immigrants to the Northwest Territories. Maybe one of the conversations we have to have -- and I'm glad to have it with any Member on the other side of the House. I mentioned in the House that we start to look at, possibly, immigrants inside the country, who are coming to the Northwest Territories, these sorts of things. I think when I answered in the House the other day about the question around the amount of money to be invested in the Northwest Territories versus British Columbia, it was $300,000. One thing, once I went back and read my notes on this program, I learned that that only applies to Yellowknife. Anything outside of Yellowknife is actually $150,000. We've had a little bit of uptake of people that are applying, particularly in Hay River and Inuvik, and possibly one other community. I can't remember what it was right off the top of my head. There is a different approach to it outside of Yellowknife, just because of the size of the regions and the investments are lower, but I'm glad to continue to have these conversations because we all know in this House bringing anybody into the Northwest Territories is going to do nothing but help us. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the insight that the Minister has shared. I also appreciate that there's some focus from the department being paid attention to this. I think that it has lots of room to grow and improve.

One other thing: I also respect that there needs to be some degree of certainty with regard to immigrants providing investment, but maybe it does have to be a little bit more appealing. I appreciate that, other communities outside of Yellowknife, the investment might be $150,000 and Yellowknife is $300,000, but, if we are trying to compete with other jurisdictions around the country, then Yellowknife has got to be appealing, as well. Frankly, if Vancouver or the better part of BC is at $200,000, then, I would strongly suggest that the department should look at lowering Yellowknife's to be competitive.

One thing that I'm curious to learn a little bit more from the department, and tell me if I'm wrong in terms of what activity we're in, but I can't seem to find it anywhere else, and that is, what is the role of ITI as it relates to its support for the knowledge-based economy? I respect that this is a multi-departmental undertaking, but certainly ITI is going to play an integral role as it relates to the development of our knowledge-based economy. It's a critical piece to diversification. I know it's again a relatively new initiative to our mandate, but I'd like to learn from the department what kind of investment that we're going to make in bringing on a knowledge-based economy and having it lead to diversifying the economy? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Mr. Jensen.

Thank you. Mr. Vanthuyne?

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the deputy minister for his reply. I appreciate and I indicated in my comments that we kind of are in early stages. If that's the case and we're both recognizing that, then I think it's also important that we take the next steps in developing that, making a fairly serious commitment and investment to developing the broader scopes of what's expected in an NWT knowledge economy. I also forewarn that we don't have to look for perfection, either. Take small tiny steps. There are a lot of avenues that we can start to go down and invest in prior to knowing and understanding what the big picture is.

I gave a couple of examples just the other day, just very small ones, when I spoke in the House in a Member's statement about maybe a young woman in a remote community developing an app, and that app would teach her traditional language to the world because the app is downloadable. I talked about a young man being able to learn from an elder about traditional teepee building, and then using those skills as a motivator to maybe become an engineer or an architect that might go on to build housing that respects modern technology as well as traditional Indigenous lifestyles. Those are things that we can do now. We don't have to wait to and reinvent the wheel on a knowledge-based economy to contribute to those kinds of things. I'd like to see us make a commitment in that regard as soon as we possibly can. For this activity right now, Mr. Chair, that's all I have for questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Next, Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm just following up on my honourable friend's comments on the knowledge economy. I'm just wondering what programs the department has to support innovation in the Northwest Territories? I know there is significant effort and money available in the federal government across all provinces and territories for innovation. Do we have any innovation projects or strategies in the works? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Between the two Members, the comments that are stated, moving forward we might have a specific line item for the knowledge economy, but those things could be supported through the SEED initiative. I agree, the knowledge economy is in its early stages. I've been to the innovation table with Minister Bains, and they're working on their initiatives moving forward. We're trying to find what we can do to line up with the federal mandate to take best advantage of that. We have a number of things that are working right now. I think we have to figure out as a territorial government how we're going to pull a knowledge economy all together under one roof, I guess I would say, and which department would take the lead on that because there are so many different initiatives and different things that could be spread out amongst different departments. I think this is one of the ones that we as a government has to have a serious look at and have one department lead this program. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I appreciate that this is a relatively emerging section of our economy, and it's not something that we traditionally thought of as a strength, but I don't want to see this department be in a position where it's waiting for the knowledge economy to come about organically, and that it's actually finding ways to stimulate knowledge economy, investments and development, and an innovation strategy that rewards private sector investment in innovative solutions. I think it dovetails quite well in the coming reality of carbon pricing and green economy solutions to Northern mining and manufacturing. I guess I just want to leave that as a comment. Let's build it so it's present in our economy, we're not waiting for it to catch up, because innovators will move to jurisdictions that support innovation, and that will be my final word on that, and I will invite the Minister to comment on it.

I did want to just discuss the BDIC as the next point. There is quite a substantial cut being proposed to BDIC, around just over $900,000. Is this a one-time deduction? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is a phase 2 reduction of $925,000. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister, I believe he was asking if this was an ongoing cut, or is this a one-time cut? Thank you.

This is ongoing. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Ongoing from this point forward. After this, I don't anticipate that happening. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. Testart.

Thank you. Again, we have seen the significant cuts to the BDIC over the last two budgets. What is the long-term vision for the BDIC? Are we developing the new strategic plan? Are we just going to reduce the overall financial resources they have to use and transfer the support into the department itself? There are a lot of rumours on the ground, but the Minister could put some of that to rest with a clear vision for the future of the corporation. Thank you.