Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It will be short. I’d like to ask the Minister of ENR is there not a policy, a program, a loan, a fund, anything within this government that could bridge the gap so that Pattersons can go to work, harvest timber, partake in the pellet mill future, which is on the horizon. This is not like a business that has no prospect for the future. It’s the only one we have in the Northwest Territories. Is there not, in this government-wide system, anything that could help the Pattersons? Thank you.

That was not an answer to my question. I’m talking about Patterson’s involvement in the industry of cutting wood for commercial purposes other than firewood. I know that they have cut firewood this year, but they cannot operate their business on the revenue generated by firewood. The outstanding debt relates to the harvest of commercial grade saw timber in previous years and they were unable to pay the stumpage fees due to a number of economic difficult hardships, and this is not uncommon to many types of business. I would like to again ask the Minister if the Patterson sawmill is being...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to stand up in this House again, sadly, to say that I have to repeat my statement again about the plight of an industry in Hay River that has been open and operating there since 1969, but this government, through their action and inaction, is going to allow it to fold. That is Patterson Sawmill. We are sitting in the Northwest Territories in a virtual forest; we are in the boreal forest. I don’t know how many ENR employees we have who look after forest management and yet we cannot eke out one single sustainable industry and support that logging industry to...

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Those were your general comments. Mr. Minister.

Does the committee agree we take a short break?

I call Committee of the Whole to order. Members, what is the wish of the committee? Mr. Menicoche.

Well, I do have Mr. Patterson’s permission to discuss this in public on the floor, because we have exhausted every other possible avenue. Mr. Patterson has come here. He’s met with the Minister of ITI. I have sent numerous correspondence, letters, texts and e-mails to Mr. Miltenberger about this and I have not got satisfaction. This is where we are today out of desperation, because we cannot get a satisfactory solution to this problem.

Last week Mr. Patterson called me and offered to cobble together a $15,000 payment on this outstanding debt if he could just get out there, get this approved and...