Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to direct my questions today to the Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment. The question of an agricultural policy for the Northwest Territories is one of those things on my list that I can now say I have been talking about for the last 19 years. It’s sad to say we haven’t seen much progress on it. We’ve had some very good news recently from the federal government in their support for agriculture in the Northwest Territories; we’ve been moving along with our Growing Forward programs and our different funding programs, but the time has come...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. May I please seek unanimous consent to conclude the last little bit of my statement? Thank you.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I mentioned in my Member’s statement that Choice North Farms has a pilot project ready to go. ITI has been involved in supporting that.

To the specifics of assisting this organization now in moving forward, what can the Minister tell me that he can do to help identify a location and land for this, if not under agricultural then under industrial, something outside of the town limits. What can the Minister do to help us find that land and get this pilot project off the ground? Thank you.

That’s reassuring but, of course, it can’t come quickly enough, in my opinion.

As I said in my Member’s statement today, the lack of an agricultural policy is actually a barrier to a lot of… It is an impediment and a barrier to a lot of activity that could take place in the agricultural area, whether it’s about taxation or purple gas or licensing of farm equipment. There are so many different things that our government does not have any framework or policy or legislation on.

The big one is land. In order to undertake and become involved in agriculture, we need land.

I would like to ask the...

This compost could be shipped to other communities that are unable to grow food due to soil restraints, and Choice North Farms sees this as a vital support piece for local food production in all communities.

This is a viable project and much has gone into it. I will have questions later today for the Minister of MACA and maybe the Minister of ITI, I’m not sure, but I can think of a whole lot of topics, a whole lot of titles for this Member’s statement on manure composting. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the fall of 2012, Choice North Farms of Hay River began exploring the option of developing a manure compost facility. The facility would see the composting of approximately 5,700 tonnes of manure annually. In addition to the manure composted, there would be a significant amount of paper and cardboard required to mix in the manure that’s reducing the amount being sent to our landfills each year.

After selecting the site with the assistance of AANDC, the first federal application was sent directly to Lands administration office in Yellowknife in early 2013, but the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have an idea for the Minister and I’ll throw it out there. We talked about regional high schools; we talked about students in small communities that would like to get involved in the trades. When we did the renovation to the Diamond Jenness Secondary School, they built a beautiful big trade shop.

Is the use of that trade shop to bring in students from small communities into a regional centre, has that thought ever been contemplated by this department? Those who are interested in trades, come finish your high school in Hay River. Put that shop to use, get them into the...

Thank you. I was hoping the Minister was going to tell us that he was going to increase the funding for private sector employers to hire apprentices or that the government departments were going to make a whole lot more positions available for apprentices within their department, but that’s not what I heard. I can only hope.

Can the Minister please explain or please tell us if there is going to be any emphasis on increasing and encouraging apprenticeship training in the Northwest Territories and if there will be any emphasis on attracting women to apprenticeship positions? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my pleasure today to recognize my husband, Rick Groenewegen, in the visitors gallery. I just want to beg your indulgence for one moment and say that Rick is a really lucky guy.

---Laughter

He lives in Hay River. He has a great MLA, Mr. Bouchard. He has been married to me for almost 38 years, a mere two life sentences with good behaviour, and on Monday he will be 60 years old and just two weeks ago someone asked me if he was my son. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. I have several other Members here for general comments. Prior to that, I will use the prerogative of the Chair to recognize Marc Miltenberger, a constituent of Hay River South, in the gallery today and, of course, the brother of our Finance Minister. Welcome, Marc.

---Applause

Next for general comments I have Mr. Bouchard.