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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. What's going on next to me here; what's all this waving about?

Mr. Chair, the next question I had was when will the program review of the SEED policy be completed? And also how will the department ensure that SEED funding supports mentorship and capacity building? Thank you -- or, actually, you know what, let's go one question at a time. When will the program review of the SEED policy be completed? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, we go out with an RFP to do a complete review of this program in April of this year. And with that, we will do a very robust review of the SEED program within the intent of releasing a new policy next year. Thank you.

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

Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. I think that's it. Give me one second here. Sorry, I've got like four pages of notes. Yeah, no, I wanted to ask a couple more questions about SEED. So how will the department ensure that SEED funding supports mentorship and capacity building through this review? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, nothing is off the table with the review. We intend to do a very wholistic review of the program from start to finish and everything in between. The program, as it currently stands, does have both of those things, and so that will be a very natural input into the review. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. I'll go to the Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And certainly I can just say, you know, I hope that this comes up during the review but something that was pointed out to me by constituents, who are small business owners, is certainly ITI's been really good at getting -- helping businesses get off the ground, and the SEED program's been great for that. But what I've heard people are struggling with is, you know, they get a bit of support to get off the ground but maintaining a business in the Northwest Territories can be really challenging. And so that's one piece of feedback. I don't need a response from the Minister unless she's interested in commenting. But that was a piece of feedback I heard at the doors and stuck with me that we -- you know, just as important as fostering new is ensuring that we maintain what's existing so that, you know, we don't have this constant kind of hamster wheel of businesses opening and closing, opening and closing. You want things to sustain, for people to have a sustainable employment and sustainable income. So that's maybe something we can look into with the SEED program, ways that we can shift into kind of better support for maintenance -- maintaining kind of momentum. Thank you, Mr. Chair. If the (audio) --

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister to respond.

Okay, thank you. Next on my list I have is the Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, in this activity, ITI is budgeting a $2.2 million reduction for economic diversification, which is a little concerning considering where we're at in the geopolitical world that has been thrust upon us. So can the department please provide more clarity on this reduction. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. What the Member is seeing there, and the difference is the investment in the fish plant. So we have been working to build and open a fish plant in Hay River, and we are no longer needing that -- that's what is not represented there, is the fish plant money. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. I'll go to the Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And that is good information to know, but -- so is it anticipated or expected that as we start to have our economic vision developed into the fall, and possibly into next year actions rolling out of that, you will be seeking investment into new diversification streams, or is there anything sort of contemplated in the, like, initial stages of trying to expand or diversification options? I know we've had a lot of success with the film industry. I know the Minister is a big fan of supporting the arts, but are there any other visions on her horizon that she'd like to talk about right now? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. And I love this question because I love the opportunity to talk about the fact that we have a diverse economy in the Northwest Territories and really what we're doing at this point is ensuring that we're supporting the diversity of our economy. And so we have programs that support agriculture, tourism. We have, you know, the -- sorry, the Member mentioned film. We have a film program that continues to grow because the multipliers for our film projects in the territory are incredible. It's got almost a 9 to 1 multiplier. And so investing there really is investing in an economy, in a sector, that continues to propel our dollars further.

We also have programs, like our SEED program, that really call upon residents of what do you want us to invest in and allow for that massive spectrum to already happen. And so the economic vision really is about how we present ourselves and sell ourselves as a territory to the rest of the world. And I really foresee under that that the sky is the limit. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'll go back to the Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, appreciate that. Looking very much forward to the vision coming out this fall, hopefully even perhaps earlier if the department is super keen and wants to get it out the door.

Further to that, and the sky being the limit, I would like to echo some of the comments that my colleague from Frame Lake has said since beginning his tenure here in this House that, you know, economic diversification used to include contributions for planning, research, and public engagement on advancing the knowledge economy. So I don't want to walk backwards into question period and the Pandora's Box that is Aurora College at the moment, but I do want to ask the Minister if that is still something that's being contemplated here in this activity. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, myself and department staff have a very good working relationship with CanNor, and we are always looking for ways to identify new funds and use ITI funds in a stackable way. We're always looking to maximize our investment in anything that we do, and we'll certainly continue to do that. Thank you.