Debates of Feb. 24th, 2026

Thank you. I will go back to the Member from Dehcho.

I was going to ask about what are some barriers to business startup in Dehcho. That was the second question. Thank you.

Thank you. I will go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, our information has both the Dehcho and the Nahendeh included, and so in order to break out just the Member's communities I would need to follow up in writing, but would be happy to do so. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from the Dehcho.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think that one is, like, for either Nahendeh and Dehcho, what is a barrier? The information will be good for both -- well, I guess for everybody. So what is some barriers that prevent people from starting up businesses? Thank you.

Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the cost of doing business in the Northwest Territories certainly can be quite high, depending on what business somebody is starting up or opening. The cost of securing goods, we, you know, certainly are working on certain projects. For example, the Mackenzie Valley Highway in the Northwest Territories, acknowledging that air travel or traveling, you know, down through BC, up through the Yukon and up the Dempster to get back into the Northwest Territories, it certainly adds to the cost of doing business and the cost of living in the Northwest Territories. We certainly make sure that we are providing access to different funding programs that help kind of mitigate some of that startup of business shock in the territory, whether that's through our tourism operator funding that people can use for some infrastructure or whether that's SEED funding for example, that people can use for business plans to make sure that they're also charging rates that really allow them to stay in business and make sure that it respects their cash flow needs as well.

And then we also have Prosper NWT, and I know there have been multiple businesses over in the Dehcho that have worked with Prosper NWT to secure loans for increased business opportunities and to great success. Thank you.

Thank you. I will go to the Member from the Dehcho.

Thank you. I would think one of the barriers would be -- it could be housing. Housing could be one of the barriers, lack of knowledge of starting a business. So given those, what are some supports that are available to business starter-uppers? Thank you.

Thank you. I will go to the Minister.

Thank you very much for the question, Mr. Chair. So in regards to housing and the challenges we see across the territory, this government is investing more in housing infrastructure than any government before it with $150 million and still working to make sure that we're supporting increased investments in housing from other third parties into the territory.

In addition to that, Mr. Chair, there's also mentorship opportunities that I alluded to earlier with other Members. So making sure that we are creating opportunities for somebody who wants to start a business to work with somebody who successfully has done just that.

And in addition, we have our business development officers, our career transfer initiatives as well, which fund economic development officers in regions and in communities so that different funding opportunities are accessible, where people can sit down with somebody, understand what programs are out there for the idea that they have, and really working with not just economic development officers, but also staff -- any staff member, really, from a regional office, whether it's ITI or ECE, should be able to kind of cross-link somebody to different funding programs that are available to them.

And then Prosper NWT also has not just funding programs but they also have grants -- or sorry, not just loans, but they also have grants. So they have grants that can help people set up different websites, especially people who want to kind of transition into e-commerce and so able to expand their reach beyond just their community to different potential buyers and potential customers for their business. And then in addition to that, there's a new grant through Prosper NWT that links businesses with different artificial intelligence opportunities as well. And those are both grants. And then Prosper NWT also works very hard to provide different kind of business advice type solutions for people. So, you know, if the Member knows of somebody that's looking to set up a business and looking for supports, please don't be shy to either reach out through the MLA to myself, or I would be more than happy to provide contacts for ITI, ECE, or Prosper, depending on what the person is looking for. Thank you.

Thank you. I will go to the Member from the Dehcho.

Thank you. I guess I think about just, you know, when you're in small communities, it's a lot harder especially if you're living isolated. I can't imagine if that, you know, they have business development officers come to the community. Do they do that once a month? Once every -- twice a month? I am not sure how that works. But that's why, I guess, I talked about it before. I'd like to have a business development officer in my community so people can feel like they're supported right there rather than having to drive to Hay River. And, yeah, so just having that support readily available in communities. And I understand people can phone, they can email, but it seems like it's better to talk one-on-one with somebody in person rather than on the phone. Because you have to -- I guess it's all about building relationships, right?

So the other question I had was on the fishers. It's funny how they call them that, fishers now, commercial fishermen. What supports do they get by becoming fishers? Thank you.

Thank you. I will go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, we certainly provide supports through the purchase of supporting the purchase of equipment, through training for people who are interested in becoming involved in commercial fishing. In the past, we've also done support for wages as well. And then we have our commercial fish program and also the northern food program that people can access for different buckets of funding depending on what type of infrastructure, whether that's hard infrastructure or soft infrastructure that they're looking to fill. And so the budget for that is roughly, I believe, about half a million dollars. And then in addition to that, there's also the SEED program that people can apply through. So we -- acknowledging that there's a lot of demand on different funding programs, we try to make sure that we're working directly with the person who's interested in accessing these funding programs and suggesting different avenues and different ways that they can apply so that we're trying to really expand that opportunity as much as possible.

Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from the Dehcho.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't have anything further. Thank you.

Thank you. I am going to take a 30-minute break, and then we'll come back. Thank you.

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Okay, I am going to continue on with the questions where we left off on page 237 to 239. Are there any questions from the Member from Frame Lake?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The first question, how is ITI measuring whether its business programs are actually diversifying the economy rather than reinforcing the existing composition of it?

Thank you, go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, that is part of the program redesign work that we are doing right now. So, we started today with the Member from Great Slave asking about the SEED review, and so we are doing this work through existing reviews that are ongoing right now.

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