David Ramsay

Mr. Speaker, again, as we move forward, I think whether or not we need a food strategy per se or to be part of a larger piece like the Economic Development Strategy or many of the other support mechanisms that the department has for locally produced food and agriculture in the NWT, it certainly is something worth some consideration, though. Thank you.

That is a good point, and I believe we need to work collectively. I need to work with my colleague from Municipal and Community Affairs. It could, in fact, be a big part of the Economic Development Strategy that we’re going to continue to pursue here in the Northwest Territories, so that we can find ways to grow the agricultural industry here in the Northwest Territories. I agree wholeheartedly with the Member on the importance of getting that sector more pronounced here in our territory, and I’ll do what I can as Minister to make sure that that happens. Thank you.

Yes, we will do that. Thank you.

Over the weekend the website was updated on a continuous basis. It was updated because of the situation that was happening with the Liard River. As far as weather, we have somebody on every weekend updating the website. If there are events that are happening in the territory, I would expect that we’d have somebody available to update that website. I can get that level of detail for the Member on how that happens and when it happens. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This past spring the staff and students at N.J. Macpherson School challenged themselves to raise $15,000 to help Stanton Territorial Hospital. For a kindergarten to Grade 5 school with just over 250 students, that was an ambitious goal.

Mr. Speaker, I’m pleased to say not only did the students reach their goal, they surpassed it. They raised just over $17,000 and I’m extremely proud to say that the school is in my riding of Kam Lake.

After hearing that the Stanton Territorial Hospital Foundation is currently raising money for a dedicated area in our territorial hospital...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the contract that exists with Ruskin, again, it is not a fixed price contract. When there are change orders, some of those change orders are the responsibility of the owner, in this case the Government of the Northwest Territories, and we would certainly work with the contractor on a schedule and on costs, and we’ve been doing that all along.

Again, in March of this year it became apparent that the contractor would not be able to complete the project by November. So we had to look at different strategies to allow us to get that accomplished, and the option that we...

Thank you. I believe some of that work has been done in conjunction with the Territorial Farmer’s Association, a group that I’ve had the opportunity to meet with, and I’d be more than happy to try to get that information for the Member and put that together for him.

We also have this Community Gardens Program and I mentioned this earlier in this session in relation to a question that I was asked I believe by one of the other Regular Members. When I was down in Fort Simpson recently, we ran into two young university students who are working for ITI delivering the Community Garden Program, and...

Mr. Speaker, I have been quite clear in answering other questions from other Members yesterday. I will say it again. Going forward, this money has helped us negotiate our way out of a myriad of claims, construction claims on the project. We are going to work together with the contractor to see the project get completed this fall. I am not sure if the Member would prefer that we throw our hands up, we fight with the contractor, we go to court for years and years to come, we spend untold hundreds of thousands if not a million dollars-plus on legal fees and we don’t have a bridge open this fall...

Mr. Speaker, we have a team of lawyers that have been working on the contractual obligations, what our responsibility is going forward. I know the Member continually wants to go back to decisions that were made by the previous government. I have said it yesterday and I will say it again today, decisions that I have made since I became Minister last fall are decisions that I take responsibility for, I am accountable for. With our best advice and the options that were presented to us, we are doing the best for the taxpayer here in the NWT to get this project finished. We will continue to work...

Mr. Speaker, we have incredible resource potential in our territory, and with it, significant opportunity for economic growth. But to truly have a diversified economy that provides all communities and regions with opportunities and choices, we need more than just resource development. Today I would like to talk to you about the Sustainable Economic Development Strategy.

This Assembly has indicated that we need to grow our economy carefully and sustainably. MLAs have identified a comprehensive, sustainable economic development strategy as a priority.

Mr. Speaker, economic conditions in the NWT...