Ms. Taylor.

Thank you. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you for that response. I guess my last question would be for the Minister is what does she feel will be the biggest impacts for NWT businesses with the proposed amendments of this bill? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'm happy to give my own views on it. I do think it would be beneficial to also hear from the CEO. But, I mean, I suppose at this point I'd probably highlight -- I don't like to pick favourites; it's like picking your favorite child. But, I mean, to be -- to be quite honest, actually, I would actually put the rebranding on there because there is confusion in the space, in the ecosystem of supports for businesses. I'm not -- it doesn't even matter to me necessarily. As it has been said already, whether it's Prosper NWT or something different, but it needs to be something different. I'm glad that it is something that has been done by a professional organization to make that determination because there needs to be clarity around the business ecosystems that are available to support businesses in the Northwest Territories. There's not right now. They don't know who to go to for what level of service or for what type of service. And so second to that, I would say is the ability here for BDIC to provide business supports, which right now have to go through the Minister if they can be supported at all. So the ability for them to start to do that on their own in a responsive way will be more responsive and more timely. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think Prosper NWT is the greatest name ever; I love it, I'm excited. I'm really excited for the CEO and board and to truly become arm's length and hopefully they don't have to deal with any more MLAs for a long time. My only concern, though, is I think the board right now has four Yellowknife Members and one Fort Smith Member, and then has some vacancies. Can I get an update on how we're doing with trying to add some diversity to the board. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Recently under the last board composition, our chair was from Inuvik and we had a member from Aklavik. The current board members, I have numbers but I don't necessarily have where they're from. So I might see if the CEO can respond to that, please.

Ms. Taylor.

Thank you. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And thank you to the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. He asked some of the questions that I wanted out on the floor, which was what are the biggest impacts of this bill going to be? At the end of the day, you know, am I in love with Prosper NWT? Maybe not. My concern is that will businesses know where to go. And I guess that is another marketing campaign that will have to happen. But ultimately, I don't believe that it is the role of this House to jump into marketing activities.

The idea of Members from either side of the House, whether you are a Minister or a Regular Member, jumping in to any kind of marketing activity for the GNWT or their arm's length organizations, in my mind, is definitely not our jobs, and I definitely don't want to see that precedent set here today. We have, over the last four years, gotten really good at poking one another when we get into the weeds. And I think this is definitely one where this is too far into the weeds in my opinion. And I will be supporting this bill because of the impacts listed by the Minister and by the executive director. At the end of the day, it's our job to provide political direction and not to decide what the name of an organization will be. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Members, are there any more general comments? Can we proceed to a clause-by-clause review of the bill?

Thank you. Committee, we will defer the bill number and title until after consideration of the clauses. We will consider clauses in groups. Please turn to page 1 of the bill.

Clauses 1 through 6, does committee agree?

Clause 7. Member for Nunakput.

One second, Madam Chair.

Go ahead, Member for Nunakput.

Okay, thank you, Madam Chair. An Act to Amend the Northwest Territories Business Development Investment Act Corporation clause 7 of Bill 84 be numbered as subclause 7(1) and following to be added after renumbered subclause. The following added -- what are you doing? You're waving your little arm around here.

The following is added after subsection 5(1.2):

(1.3) The Minister shall make reasonable efforts to appoint directors who are representative of the economic sectors and communities of the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

The motion is in order. To the motion.