Bob Bromley

Do we have a fire – oh, I forget the name – officer representative in every community, if the Minister knows what I’m asking.

Madam Chair, thanks again to the Minister. That’s good to hear. I know that I was using the Minister’s words there and he caught that. We want to do a good job. I’m with him there.

We have such a history of unfair and erratic adherence to regulations and inspections and so on that it’s going to be very important to really be on top of things once there’s the new situation goal, which is going to be difficult because people are going to holler a bit. Some may have never seen this before, maybe. Is there a plan to make sure that the public is well aware that this is a new situation? I appreciate...

Mr. Speaker, I’ve heard that the Take A Kid Trapping program is drawing dollars from the Growing Forward Fund. That obviously would be inappropriate use of those dollars. Can the Minister confirm whether that is the situation? What is the justification for that if it is? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Obviously, the last time we came out with it there were very major issues left to resolve, and the Minister got lots of input on that and I know recognized that it was major. I hope that we’re not rushing into this just to meet that March 31st deadline. It would be good to get this done, but I would urge the Minister to make sure that we’ve got public support going forward. That’s one point I wanted to make.

Mr. Speaker, thanks to the Minister. I know there are a number of groups and significant movers and shakers that have been involved in programs in the past. I am sure they are being consulted, so I’ll appreciate that information.

The Minister has written to tell me that the ITI regional offices in the North and South Slave and Deh Cho will take on responsibility for delivering the Small Foods Program, and the ITI agricultural consultant will do full implementation in the Beau-Del and support the Sahtu office.

As the new season soon gets underway, could the Minister commit to ensuring community...

That sounds like a wise course, they learned by doing it, and that’s what I want to see. So if the Minister had the resources, would he get going earlier? Sorry, I withdraw that, hypothetical. I’ll leave it at that, Madam Chair. Thank you.

I appreciate that response. It would be wonderful if committee could get information on that so we know what’s happening there and we don’t have to ask it again. Maybe we could even add it to the long list here.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just a comment. I found in these sorts of things that local businesses are the ones that are the real workhorses in this area of social responsibility. Keeping all departments coordinated in the development of the strategy has been a major challenge.

Will the Minister build in the creation of a funded secretariat to introduce the strategy, guide its integration into our programming, and do the evaluations we’ll need for continued improvement, working with our partners, of course?

I guess the draft should be coming out very soon, obviously, if the final is expected by the end of the month. This time frame stretches us, I would say, based on that, into the spring, and yes, we want to get it right to have a strategy that public groups can support and be ready to resource the strategy adequately.

The budget address noted that funding for a strategy would be brought forward as a supp before the next main budget, which is good news. Since we’re gathering comment on the final draft strategy now, will the Minister commit to contracting peer review from outside experts so that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Previous programs to help businesses acquire renewable energy equipment and technology have been cut back. These programs promoted business prosperity and success, by cutting the consumption and high costs of electrical and heat energy. Given our reliance on fossil fuel, greenhouse gas production is also cut, an important bonus. But even with adequately funded programs, many businesses can’t take advantage because they lack the seed funds to go ahead. Programs provided up to $10,000 for projects of up to $40,000, but first you need to have the $30,000.

The savings...