Thank you, Ms. St-Denis. Mr. Beaulieu.

Are the fishers from Yellowknife included in that, or just people from the south of the lake? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Ms. St-Denis.

Thank you, Ms. St-Denis. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have no further questions.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Next, we have Mr. Testart.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am just taking a look at these lines, especially around the SEED program, Support for Entrepreneurs and Economic Development, and Community Futures. Let's just talk about SEED. This money has only seen very small marginal increases over the years. I would like to know what the subscription rates for the SEED fund are. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Schumann.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. For the number of years that we have tracked it from 2010 to now, it has either been almost 100 percent subscribed or else oversubscribed. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Testart.

How much is it oversubscribed? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Schumann.

We can supply this chart to the Members, but in 2017-2018, the surplus deficit was $26,888 over. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Testart.

Thank you. Sorry, I wasn't looking for deficit numbers, but that is helpful. If the SEED fund had the available funding, what is the amount of applications that would have been approved under those conditions? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Schumann.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to give the Member an idea, I will run through it really quickly. In 2010-2011, we had 418. In the next calendar years, 448, 437, 454, 480, 410, 441, 445, are the number of applicants, but the number of people approved changes year to year depending on the type of applications that we receive. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Testart.

Thank you. This funding is crucial capital for entrepreneurs and for businesses that are looking to develop, to grow, and to pursue expansion, and there is just not a lot of private equity out there being floated to northern businesses. I see this fund as a key way that the government can help diversify the economy directly, and yet, we do not see substantial increases to this pot of money.

I recall a couple of years ago when similar arguments were being made to increase the Mineral Incentive Program, which was done, and currently that fund pays out and is contributing a lot to our economy. Why aren't we taking the same approach with this vital fund? The answer, often, when we are raising questions on behalf of our constituents who are looking to access more government support, when we are looking at the general state of the economy, the answer is often, "Go to the SEED fund," and the SEED fund too frequently runs out.

Why are we not putting more resources into this fund, which is a very useful way to contribute to the economy, to diversify the economy, and to get entrepreneurs the capital that isn't as freely flowing to them from private capital institutions? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Schumann.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I have said under heavy questioning before, around some of the funding allocations that we try to get for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, we have to do our applications just like all of the other departments and compete with the limited amount of resources that the Government of the Northwest Territories has. That being said, with the amount of money that we have right now for Support for Entrepreneurs and Economic Development in the Northwest Territories and the applicants that we have got, I think that we are doing a pretty good job with the allocation that we have, and we are meeting the needs of Northerners at this point. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Testart.

Thank you. I am not disagreeing 100 percent. I think that this is doing a good job. It's just that we could be doing an even better job, and of course, there were changes to SEED that have allowed the program to flow a bit more broadly throughout all of the regions of the territory. Doing the best job that we can with the available resources isn't doing better. We are looking at a future of recession. We are looking at economic hardship ahead. No one denies that. We should be using funding like this and resources like this that, A, we know work; B, we know that entrepreneurs are readily accessing and celebrating the opportunity; and C, we know that a marginal increase over a period of years is going to have large economic impacts and form multipliers.

Will the Minister consider a SEED plan that will see more investment in this fund in the next business plan for a period of years when, again, capital markets are going to contrast even more tightly than they currently are? Thank you.