Thank you for that.
I know the committee is very interested in this, and I think rightfully so. It's a very exciting part of the overall portfolio. So I would encourage you in your work, and I look forward to any advice and reports you may have, because of course you will be able to talk to more people perhaps than I might have talked to, or different people. And I'm looking forward to your perspective, because the north is an exciting area when it comes to economic opportunity.
We have announced the creation of an economic development agency for the north. We've been at work behind the scenes. This is a new development, a new agency, so it deals with the machinery of government, if you will. We've been in discussions with northern governments and aboriginal organizations on what that might look like, but obviously the creation of that stand-alone agency that will be headquartered in the north, sensitive to northerners' needs, is a key part of what we're going to be doing. This is an exciting prospect. It was the number one ask just before and after the last federal election, certainly by the business community and the governments in the north. I'm looking forward to launching that shortly. That economic development agency is going to be a key part, not only in the delivery of regular development help but also in building capacity, working with other levels of government, both aboriginal and public. It's going to be a key part because it's an ongoing relationship that will be key for northerners.
We've also announced the renewal of the SINED programming. When we had the federal-provincial ministers meeting in January, just before the budget, one of the top asks from the northern governments was the renewal of SINED.
SINED has proven to be the flagship economic development tool for the government working with northerners, and it has proven to be very effective. Twenty years ago there wasn't such a thing.
This $90 million over five years is going to be a very important part of it. And my expectation is that as the economic development agency gets up and running, they will take over the administration of that SINED money as well, and the combination is going to be a nice package of economic opportunity, local knowledge, and control of the programming. It's going to be very exciting.
We're already in the middle of making some important changes on regulatory issues in the north. I'm sure you know this. You can always get a smile from northerners when you go up and talk about regulatory reform because nowhere else in the country do they understand it as well, and understand how broken it is, as they do up north. Not by design, but by evolution, it has turned into the most hopelessly complex regulatory regime in the country and it has proven to be an impediment to economic development.
Mr. McCrank delivered a report to me last year. We've started to move on the recommendations of the report, and we'll be engaging northerners to make further changes to harmonize regulatory activity to allow environmentally sound, proper development in the north in a way that allows business to succeed.
So I think we're on the right path in the north, but again, I look forward to any reports you might develop in your northern trips and research, because I think it's an exciting area that everybody wants to get right. But we need to move quickly to allow opportunities for northerners. They're champing at the bit, and we need to help them make it happen.