Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. We have an amazing group of people in Hay River who are highly interested in agriculture. I know the Minister has received a briefing from a very enthusiastic young lady, who has a market garden in Hay River, by the name of Jackie Milne who is now the president of the NWT Farmers Association. Ms. Milne has come up with an outline for training so that she can share her knowledge with others and encourage more interest in the idea of growing our own food, which we know is very, very possible here...

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. We were on page 8-31, community wellness and social services, operations expenditure summary, $89.259 million. Mr. Dolynny.

Where we left off yesterday, we were dealing with the Department of Health and Social Services. I would like to ask the Minister if he would like to bring witnesses into the Chamber.

I’d like to call Committee of the Whole back to order. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you. Is the committee agreed?

Yes, record noted. Thank you. But sometimes when, like, he’s so honest about it, he’s not a good poker player. Sometimes it’s becoming overwhelming and he says that I wish to do better and I strive to know more about the issues and give my colleagues a good answer. I appreciate the fact that he is very real. We all have a ways to go to learn all the topics.

Our Minister responsible for Public Works and Services and Human Resources, comes to us from a background in the public service. I find Mr. Abernethy very responsive. He’s a critical thinking person. You don’t have to say, “Do you know what...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not intimately familiar with people in ITI and what they do, but I believe there is one long-term public servant in Yellowknife with ITI that has been focused on agriculture. Certainly, we also have another long-term staff position in Hay River, which we do appreciate.

When you’re talking about decentralization around the table with respect to agriculture, has there been any consideration to supporting agriculture in Hay River by looking at decentralizing that one full-time position that we know about in Yellowknife?

I do thank the Minister for his interest in this topic. Everything can’t be about the non-renewable resource sector. We have to put some of our attention to renewable resources and small-scale operations.

I’d like to ask the Minister, within his department, what kind of human resources and resources are dedicated to this issue of agriculture.

Thanks, Mr. Abernethy. Mr. Hawkins, your time is up. I’ll put you back on the list, if you wish. Mr. Dolynny.