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Wednesday, June 11, 1997 Getting DevCorp back on track
It is welcome news that Stephen Kakfwi, minister of economic development, is stepping in to take responsibility for DevCorp.
As a recent report by the auditor general clearly shows, DevCorp has been seriously mismanaged.
DevCorp has a mandate to invest public funds in corporations that have a good chance of creating sustainable jobs, particularly in communities where the need is greatest. However, despite clear guidelines that specify the qualifications for investment, DevCorp's record is a dismal one.
If the investment firm that was managing your pension had the same success rate, it would have its licence lifted. Of the seven corporations that received venture funding, five lost money. This is in spite of specific recommendations that investments show a positive rate of return in three years.
The danger in this mess is that the public will get fed up with their money going down the drain and decide that DevCorp is not worth the expense.
DevCorp is not only a good idea, it is a necessary one. The territorial government has an important role to play in the development of a sustainable Northern economy. DevCorp's job is to step in where traditional markets won't to finance the growth of business.
Because of the sparse local markets and the vast distances between markets this kind of support is essential for entrepreneurs in the North. Besides providing capital, DevCorp should be offering marketing and management support to new businesses.
And it is important to distinguish between investing in businesses that are building towards profitability and financial support for not-for-profit organizations.
We look forward to next year's auditor general's report and reading that the capable Stephen Kakfwi has put DevCorp back on track.
Police say there is nothing they can do to curb vandalism carried out by children under 12 because there Young Offenders Act rules out charging them with criminal offences.
This isn't the first time we've heard police say this, nor will it be the last. Just last year a federal commission crossed the country gathering ideas on how the Young Offenders Act can be improved.
A better idea would be an amendment to the Criminal Code allowing police to charge parents for petty crimes of unsupervised children. If used cautiously, such a law would go a long way toward curbing, if not eradicating, youth vandalism.
Yellowknife Centre MLA Jack Ootes has come up with one of the best ideas we've heard in a long time: poach Ottawa for some of those Northern-oriented federal jobs.
The NWT has run most of its own affairs for a while now, but there are still, quite literally, thousands of civil servants down there who are being paid to look after this or that aspect of life up here.
Many of them probably have no idea of what Yellowknife offers. It's time to wake up the southern bureaucracy with an ambitious public relations campaign aimed at convincing southerners they get their work down in Yk, and enjoy themselves, to boot.
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