Jane Groenewegen

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.

Can the Minister assure me that no more standing offer agreements will be awarded by this government without clearly identifying what the northern content and the requirement for northern content is, and for procuring the services from northern contractors, that no more standing offer agreements will be let until this matter is resolved?

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Minister Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said in my Member’s statement today, it seems that we have a gap in our procurement policies. Standing offer agreements can be offered to firms who can then turn around and subcontract southern companies to do work here in the Northwest Territories. I’m not sure if it’s the Minister for which the work that I’m referring to is being done or if it’s someone else on the other side that’s responsible for this policy on standing offer agreements. I would like to know why standing offer agreements do not uphold the same standard of northern content that other contracts...

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Department of Transportation, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you. Does committee agree?