Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, in 2024-2025, the main estimates are $500,000 investment for the contributions for the film rebate program. And in the following year for 2025-2026, the investment would go up another $500,000 to $1 million investment. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Range Lake.

Nothing further. Thank you.

Thank you. Next on my list here I got the Member from Monfwi.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Here it says, okay, advanced knowledge economy. You know, 2022-2023, well, that program went down, the money went down in in the community feature, community initiative and support for entrepreneur and economic development.

We all know that we need to grow our economy, and with GNWT fiscal restraint and mine closing, we really do need the economy. So I just want to know what is the government doing to help our -- especially in the small communities, because we lack a lot of resources and our unemployment rate is really high and many of these programs are supporting small communities and some of the small communities residents use these funds, you know, with their business venture. So I just wanted to know if -- what kind of a relationship does the Minister have with local organizations or Indigenous government for entrepreneur and economic development in these small communities?

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, in regards to the question specifically about community transfer initiatives that the Member did ask about, I just wanted to first respond to that question. So that question there is an underspend of the vacant economic development officer positions, and so -- and those positions that have traditionally been vacant are in Fort Liard, the Sahtu, and in Tuktoyaktuk. And so however the community transfer initiatives funding does provide about 13 and a half positions through Indigenous governments, especially in our small communities, and those are economic development funding positions that play a role of helping people set up businesses and enter into passive entrepreneurship.

In addition, Mr. Chair, there's also, for example, programs like SEED which is a program that people who are wanting to jump into entrepreneurship can take advantage of. And there are also programs that are supportive, with my other ECE hat on as well. If somebody wants to start a business, there is programming called the self-employment fund, which I think, unfortunately, not a ton of people know about, but also supports people as they're starting their own businesses.

Across the territory, Mr. Chair, ITI does contribute over $10 million across programs like community futures, community transfer initiatives, SEED funding, through their sustainable Canadian agriculture program and also the northern food development program. So there's a tremendous amount of funding and programming that does go into the Northwest Territories.

And what I would say to MLAs and to anybody who does want to start a business is please either reach out to your MLA or to your regional staff with ITI, because there are people who want to be able to create these pathways and help people figure out where they fit within these funding programs. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to the Member from Monfwi.

Thank you. Yes, this sustainable community agriculture partnership, I know at one time that's -- that was, I think -- well, with the high cost of living, we really do need more of this kind of programs and I know -- so this was a bilateral agreement between federal and GNWT, so I'm just wondering if the Minister -- or are they going to try and find a program similar to this so to offset our high cost of living in the North? I know Hay River had -- they were training some of our young people before, you know, with lots of -- with agriculture. So I just wanted to know if there's going to be more of this kind of program in the near future. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the line item that's towards the top of the page, the Canadian Agriculture Partnership, the GNWT was able to renegotiate that deal and it resulted in actually an increase which is now found at the very bottom of the page under the Sustainable Canadian Agriculture Partnership. And that agreement is to the tune of $7.6 million over the lifetime of the agreement, and you can see here that it has gone up from the -- what was allotted under the Canadian Agriculture Partnership. So for 2024-2025, it's sitting just over $1.5 million. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Monfwi.

Thank you. For 2022-2023, there was nothing. So I missed that one. So that's okay. There was another one too. I had another question here. No, it is okay, that's it for this page. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Monfwi.

Okay. Support for entrepreneur and economic development here. For 2023-2024, it was $5,241,000. I know that's probably related to the fire and the floods, and this year for 2024-2025, you estimate 3.4. Why? Because we're -- you know, the report is that this year it's going to be dry and hot summer. I mean, we haven't seen it yet still but, you know -- and it's just that why the budget cut because I know this benefit a lot of other local businesses. I know a lot of businesses, they helped last year with this, so I just wanted to know why there's, you know, a major cut in that area.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I appreciate the Member's love for this program; I share it. I think it's definitely ITI's cornerstone -- well, one of their major cornerstone offerings to residents of the Northwest Territories. So the major changes there that we're seeing from one year to the next is the previous year had $1 million in CanNor funding for operational support to businesses affected by the wildfire evacuation, and so that was dollars given to the GNWT that directly went to businesses from there for wildfire relief for businesses that were evacuated. And then in addition to that, Regular Members in the previous Assembly also negotiated SEED funding specific for arts to the tune of $375,000, and that was negotiated as part of budget negotiations for one year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Monfwi.

I'm surprised she said that because we got to sustain our economy, and economic development is important for the NWT. So that's why -- and especially in small communities with high unemployment rate, so that's why I'm asking, you know, especially within this area, because it does affect us too. We have constituents that benefit from these programs. So it's more of a comment. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, they were natural sunsets of the program. So those dollars weren't put in on an ongoing recurring basis. One of them was monies that were afforded to us through CanNor specifically for wildfire relief, and then the other one was a one-year arrangement that was negotiated as part of budget negotiations in a previous government. Thank you.

Thank you. There's no further questions? Thank you. I'm going to continue on now to the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, my question's around the Great Northern Arts Festival. I know the Minister knows how important this festival is to the community of Inuvik and to the Northwest Territories. I note that I believe the answer is that the funding was deferred, but I just wanted to get -- sorry, moved to another department. I just wanted to get that on record, Mr. Chair, that the $25,000 for the Great Northern Arts Festival is still available. Thank you.