Natural Resources committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. On behalf of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, I want to thank you for asking us to appear with you today with our colleagues from the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. I'll keep

Natural Resources committee  Yes. Thank you for the questions. Indeed, the organization was established a little over two years ago, in August 2009. Its current annual budget is $44 million. That's $30 million of what I would call program funding. Those are the contribution programs that we operate, some of

Natural Resources committee  The answer to your question is yes. Our minister does make decisions on the programs and funding we provide to communities and projects.

Natural Resources committee  The minister makes decisions on all the projects based on recommendations she gets from the officials.

Natural Resources committee  No, I was speaking to the project proposals that come in through our contributions program, the $30 million programs I made reference to earlier.

Natural Resources committee  That's a good question. I can't honestly answer you regarding how long it takes, but I can try to respond to the “what has it done to the process” question. It's a very rigorous process because it has to get through several levels of the organization prior to approval by the mini

Natural Resources committee  I can't answer that sitting in front of you today, but we'd be happy to provide you with that information.

Natural Resources committee  We have received the draft audit, and it is just that: a draft. So when it's final, it's final.

Natural Resources committee  Every organization works every day to better its operations. CanNor has done that from the first day. We'll do it tomorrow, and a year from now we'll continue—

Natural Resources committee  We're always working to make sure that we're as on top of the books as we can be for the organization.

Natural Resources committee  Actually, that's a good point, and I can't answer that because it was not part of its own department at that stage. It would have been part of Indian and Northern Affairs. But I'm not aware of any recommendation that was ever provided by that department, or certainly by CanNor, b

Natural Resources committee  It's interesting--and I think it goes back to the previous question--that we were able to inherit a lot of good-quality talent on the ground, and that talent is still on the ground in Iqaluit. If you really want to get to know your community and understand its impacts, the best w

Natural Resources committee  Yes, as far as I know, the chief financial officer has always been located in Ottawa.

Natural Resources committee  I think you can understand, as I said a few questions ago, that it is a draft audit, so I won't be commenting on any of the content of that audit.

Natural Resources committee  Every department has a financial management framework.