Yellowknife (Feb 07/05) - A new one-stop shop for business development in the NWT is slowly making its way through the gears of government.

In a public meeting slated for 1:30 p.m. today, the Legislative Assembly's Standing Committee on Governance and Economic Development will discuss the creation of the Business Development and Investment Corporation. Committee chairwoman and Hay River MLA Jane Groenewegen highlighted the overlap within current initiatives and the need to trim the fat.

"Right now we're running the Business Credit Corporation with a CEO and the NWT Development Corporation with a CEO and a board," she said, adding the GNWT also operates Community Futures and there's the economic development offices in the regions and various communities.

"Some of the work would still be contracted out to regional RWED employees, but this is going to consolidate three organizations that have similar goals and objectives."

Kam Lake MLA Dave Ramsay, a member of the Standing Committee on governance and economic development, said more needs to be done to cut the territorial bureaucracy.

He pointed out that in the NWT there are 4,500 government employees and 42,000 residents.

"If you take out the people under 20 years of age that means one in four people are working for the government," he said.

"We've got to dig a little deeper."

Both Ramsay and Groenewegen were reluctant to release details of the closed door discussions leading up to this public meeting.