Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At the expense of starting to sound like a broken record, let me again ask the Minister, I don’t know, ITI, ENR, I don’t know who wants to answer this question. First of all, let’s confirm that Patterson’s ability to go out and cut timber this winter is being denied on the basis of a debt owed to this government of less than $120,000. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of timber licences. There is an existing operational licence for cutting firewood, I believe. 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 precluded from cutting timber this winter for commercial purposes of a saw grade level because of a debt outstanding to this government of less than $120,000. Thank you.
I have considerable concern about talking about the details of a file and specific figures and all the issues related to that in this forum. I’m very happy to talk to the Member about this. The Member and I have had numerous discussions about this. I recognize the concern about Mr. Patterson, but I am not in the position, I don’t believe, as Minister, to discuss details of individual files. Thank you.
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 continue to hold this debt on the books until such time as he has a chance to make the money to pay it back. I’m not asking for forgiveness of this debt, just asking for it to be put into abatement until such time as he can get to work and keep his business going.
I understand the Minister’s difficulty in that he doesn’t want to discuss the details of this, but I have been given permission to ask this. I would like to ask the Minister, in view of the value of waste wood that sits in Patterson’s yard, and this proposed pellet mill, and the value, the economic value that could be in that waste wood that sits in Patterson’s yard right now as a result of this new pellet mill coming on stream, has the department looked at some of the prospects, some of the good prospects that could see the economic viability of this business be improved as a result of this? Thank you.
There is activity; there is a proponent for a wood pellet plant that has done a lot of work. The issue of the supply of waste timber in the yard that the Member for Hay River South has raised has been raised with the proponent. At some point it may have that value, should the project go ahead, but at this point that is probably two to three years away. At this point the proponent had indicated that he was not in a position to buy that product in anticipation of his mill possibly going ahead. We are aware of it. We’ve looked at it. We’ve tried to consider it. We’ve talked very directly to the proponent and that has been factored into the considerations. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final, short supplementary, Mrs. 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.
In our dealings with Mr. Patterson we have come to the clear recognition, as the Member has commented about this, we need to respond as a government. We have polled the departments around the table. We have been acting on that collective advice and recommendations based on all of the aspects, not just ENR’s or not just ITI’s or not just Finance’s.
What I will commit to the Member is I will ask and we will do one more, another review and I will bring the parties around the table, keeping in mind the passionate plea from the Member to be as proactive and supportive as possible. I will commit and I will personally be involved in that review. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
