Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. During our review of the mandate over the past few sitting days, one area of the mandate that stood out for me was the area where it said, "increase employment in small communities." Further to that, we spoke about an amendment under the NWT Housing Corporation policy which will allow appropriate home businesses to operate within our units. I think this is a great idea. We need to give our residents every opportunity to succeed and be self-sufficient. Our economy, right now, is not where it needs to be. We need to think of any and every opportunity to find more jobs and bring more money to our local economies.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I do have my concerns. My main concern is that we protect fledgling businesses to grow with minimal outside interference from the GNWT. There needs to be a laissez-faire, hands-off approach from our government in terms of business start-ups. My main concern is for individuals who depend on income assistance, for example, and live in the NWT housing units. I would like to see some sort of grace period in the neighbourhood of six months, for example, to help these said business opportunities to move ahead unhindered.

Again, Mr. Speaker, we are facing an economic crisis in terms of our economy, and we need to be innovative, help move along small businesses, and help create jobs. I believe this mandate item is a positive step forward, but we need a real and common-sense approach to help our small businesses thrive.

Here is an interesting statistic that might interest people; according to Statistics Canada, in 2014 small businesses in Canada contributed an average of 30 percent to the GDP of their province or territory. I have said before in this House that we need to keep every dollar we can in NWT, especially our small communities, and this amendment makes me feel hopeful on that front.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I really believe there are a lot of good business ideas out there in the North, and who knows, one of these business ideas could be the next Amazon or Apple. I will have questions for the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation and the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment at the appropriate time. Marci cho, Mr. Speaker.