Thanks, Madam Chair. I think the Minister actually let it slip there a little bit that there is a food security strategy being built. I don't need a description of the activities that they're doing in relation to food security, because I think there is a lot going on, but with the other departments. The issue is a lack of coordination and that there is a policy framework for this to take place. So is this the lead department, then, for developing an actual food security strategy and are there -- is there money in the budget to actually make sure that it gets done in 2022-2023? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister of ITI.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So Madam Chair, sometimes we use words that have different meanings. No, there's not a food security strategy per se; however, there is a clear recognition of the need to have a strategic approach to what we're doing in terms of responding to the needs around food security. And I'm not trying to be glib, Madam Chair. It's just that to develop a strategy takes a certain amount of investment by public servants and by staffing and potentially the dollars they are associated with. But what -- that's again, that's why we're saying, that there will though be a position created now, a senior advisor position. It'll be housed in Health and Social Services, and that will make them the lead with that position there. And coordinating the three departments that are operating on the two sides -- or as well, at least two of the many sides of the issue, namely, around supporting those industries that are contributing to food security, such as the agriculture sector, also harvesters, also fish. And that's where ENR also has a role in terms of harvesting. But then also development with EIA who also have a role in terms of executive and Indigenous affairs connection to the federal government and the subsidies program. So when I say it's -- you know, again, there's a lot of strategic considerations. There does need to be a house for it. Health and Social Services will be that home with that senior position. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.

Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. Well, I don't want to get into a debate about -- I firmly believe in that the House actually passed a motion on the need for a strategy to ensure that there's better coordination, the Minister in charge of all this and so on. But doing things is not going to make them necessarily be done any better.

But I want to turn to the -- you know, if you look at the overall amount of money spent on economic diversification from 2020 to 2023 for the current budget that's proposed, it's a downward trend here, just as we're trying to, you know, help with economic recovery and so on and, you know, we all made lovely commitments to economic diversification but the dollars being spent on this are heading in the wrong direction. So what's going on here? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister of ITI.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the difference that you'll see between the actuals and mains from the prior budgets to now is predominantly as a result of the COVID-related increases that we saw -- well, COVID-related spending that we would have seen for relief and recovery efforts. And so, you know, as those windows -- programming dollars for those specific items were put into the actuals, the number goes up. But of course, the -- the core budget that we're looking at for 2022-2023 is -- is a bit lower. And then of course, there's also the reduction in the travel budgets which is also showing up there. So between those two items, Madam Chair, that is what's -- what's you're seeing the difference in. But in terms of the available dollars to put out the door in terms of programs, those dollar values are still there. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, I guess I -- I'd actually hope that there'd be some increases to support, you know, Emerging Stronger and so on. But let's turn to the regional economic diversification targets that are part of Cabinet's mandate.

I think -- I don't know, somehow this has been recast into developing regional economic development plans of some sort and being contracted out to consultants and so on. Are we actually going to have regional economic diversification targets by the end of this Assembly? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister of ITI.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So Madam Chair, I don't have the mandate document in front of me, but I know ITI's commitment certainly was to work with Indigenous and community governments in order to identify and advance economic opportunities. I can say, Madam Chair, with respect to the regional economic development plans, and what those would look like and what they may or may not include, such as targets, it was my direction that we were not going to direct that from ITI, that we were going to go out to the regions themselves and to the community governments and Indigenous governments themselves first, to figure out how they wanted us to actually do the development. So that did slow down the development a little bit, I acknowledge, but the end product, I believe, is going to be better. And it was under their guidance that the decision was made to have a facilitator that would look at the total -- the total plan and the total strategy. So there's some consistency between Northwest Territories regions but then also that each -- each region has its own person there to help them develop from -- with a local focus, help them develop on what their area of expertise or specialty might be. There's no doubt going to be some difference between, you know, for instance, communities that are stronger in fishing versus others that may be stronger with arts or with ecotourism, for example. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, I -- I'm just concerned that the original intent from the priorities of the 19th Assembly reads "increase economic diversification by supporting growth in non-extractive sectors and setting regional diversification targets." I'm worried that that has been lost and that we've somehow morphed into some sort of regional economic development plans that are going to get contracted out to consultants. That's not the same as what this priority says. So can the Minister convince me that we will actually end up with regional diversification targets at the end -- before the end of this Assembly. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister of ITI.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So Madam Chair, it seems to me -- and, again, I don't want to get into a semantics argument and I'll try to be mindful of time. But it's difficult to have a target if you don't know what you're targeting. Difficult to have a target if you don't know what your industry of target would be. There are targets for tourism. There are specific targets around where we want to get ourselves back to, broadly speaking, for the Northwest Territories. But as for region to region, again, I really do believe that the first step is to talk to those regions and see that they have a chance to tell us where their areas of growth are that they see and what those opportunities are and at that point, if -- the targets may well flow quite naturally. I'll stop there of the time -- mindful of the time. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake, short one.

[Audio] the Minister is keeping true to the original intent of these priorities. And I'll just leave it at that. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm just -- I'm going to start with the BDIC here. You know, it seems -- and I understand that there is another line -- an item, and it's not going to be about the details of the BDIC, so. I see the Minister looking a little concerned.

My question is one of the things we have heard around SCEDI and the SCEDI committee from Indigenous leadership is the lack of funding for Indigenous organizations that, you know, is -- because a lot of times they're -- they don't have the -- and I'm not an accountant but they don't have the equity or maybe the financial reputation or whatever it's called to get a sort of standard bank loan, that there has been talk and want for a long time for an Indigenous investment bank, for lack of whatever you want to call it. So I guess my question is can -- because the BDIC -- and I know there's strategic plans, and I'm going to ask about them when we get there. But is there a way for the BDIC money to somewhat be repurposed this way to provide those -- that type of loan or to prioritize Indigenous businesses? I understand it's northern but my concern is I often hear is that people just can't get money out of the BDIC, and yeah, I -- I'll leave it at that for now. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister of ITI.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, actually the CEO of BDIC is in the building but I'm not going to try and swap out right at this moment. So if there is a chance later, I'm happy to bring her here and have her address that because the BDIC is -- although she is the CEO, it's managed by a board, and the board has undergone quite a bit of strategic planning in the last year, you know, composed of folks from all regions and composed of folks with different areas of expertise, you know, done a lot of work just in terms of having a matrix of how we fill that board and then once that board was there, giving them the time to do that planning. I mean, they're -- they're the ones also hearing the challenges in the private sector around getting equity and having equity available. So I know they're looking at what that -- you know, how that's going to happen, how they are going to be able to evolve to be, you know, an organization that can be a real growth organization for community development. And also seeing where they fit in to, you know, the spectrum of funds that are available, where you may have things like seed and ITI, and you might have your community future's organizations that do the small scale and then you get to the BDIC that has the next step up. So that work is also happening. That's been -- there's been a workshop done just not that long ago.

And, you know, again, that -- and that workshop will hopefully give people the sense of, you know, where -- yeah, where they fall on those options. But, you know, again, other than that -- yeah, the strategic plan for BDIC is one that I'll pause and if -- again, I suggest I hold off until I get Joyce in here and have her speak to it. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Okay, thank you. Member for Great Slave.

With all due respect, that was an extremely long answer to a question of whether the money could be repurposed towards Indigenous banks. So I would just ask that the Minister be more responsive or aware of the time.

My next question is around the Canadian agricultural partnership. I see -- I note there that the increase for the $200,000 in the actuals for 2021-2022 is probably some extra COVID money. One of the biggest things I've heard as a barrier to agricultural development in the Northwest Territories is -- is fuel and the cost of power and such to run greenhouses, etcetera. So can the Minister speak to how any of this money is being used towards that and has there been improvements or subsidies for energy for the agriculture sector? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of ITI.