Bob McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There have been over 100 wells drilled in the Beaufort Sea and we have not had a blow-out like they have had in the Gulf of Mexico. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled "Progress Report on the Mandate of the Government of the Northwest Territories - June 2017." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, Al McDonald, my constituent from Yellowknife South, is here so that we may celebrate his induction into the Education Hall of Fame. Al McDonald has been teaching in the Northwest Territories for over 40 years. He is a coach, a past NWTTA president, president and vice president for the Canadian Teachers' Federation, and for the last many years, has been the vice principal at Sir John Franklin High School. He is an inspiration to his colleagues and students, and his impact on education in Yellowknife and the Northwest Territories cannot be understated. I want to thank Al McDonald...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The federal government as I have said, only provides a retailers' food subsidy. Right now, they are not providing subsidies for other sources of food production. We did, as part of signing on to the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, we will be meeting, and are meeting with Agriculture Canada to find ways to develop agriculture in the Northwest Territories. Those that are interested in dairy, chicken, turkey, we will have to find other sources because of the fact that that is a closed door other than existing farmers, but we will be negotiating with Agriculture Canada to...

I have had the opportunity to discuss Nutrition North with Minister Bennett on several occasions. We offered to take over the program if the accompanying money would be transferred with it. The federal government has been non-committal. They appear to prefer to deliver it themselves. They have had a number of reviews, and they even have their own advisory board, so it appears they will be in business for a while.

The Nutrition North appears to have one program which is a retailer food subsidy, where they provide subsidies to retailers that provide nutritious foods to the communities. Having said that, cost of living, food security, are all issues that are high-priority for our government, and we are always looking for ways to improve in those areas to reduce the cost of living, and also to make more nutritious foods available to the communities even if they are not included on the Nutrition North list of communities. Right now, there are now 15 Northwest Territories communities that are now included...

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs has been monitoring what the federal government has been doing with Nutrition North, and Health and Social Services provides nutritional education information on behalf of the federal government to the tune of about $375,000 a year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to recognize Paul Crookall, executive director of Excellence Canada, and his wife, Kate. Paul and Kate are accompanied by Penny Ballantyne, recently retired from the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

My expectation is we will take into consideration all of those aspects with regards to a carbon pricing mechanism. We certainly have been given assurance from the Government of Canada, directly from the Prime Minister, that we are going to work together on a solution. It will be very important for us to fully understand the implications of carbon pricing before we make an actual decision on how it will be implemented. All of the areas that the Member raised, it is my expectation that the discussion paper will raise.

Mr. Speaker, we have had briefings with committee. There is another briefing scheduled with committee on Wednesday, and we have been very clear in our briefings. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.