Mr. Speaker, I'd like to follow up on my Member's statement this morning about using local resources to meet some of our basic needs. I'd like to talk about food. As everybody knows, food costs are rising rapidly around the world, and the Northwest Territories is no different. The quality of food is declining and the availability of food is going down as the impacts of climate change and other factors are felt. Our soils are less productive and so on. I think the public really expects a new approach in dealing with these sorts of things, and I think there are lots of opportunities for win-win approaches and responsible solutions.
What new and comprehensive programs are identified in this budget to promote local production of food? That's to whoever is appropriate.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Premier Roland.
Mr. Speaker, the area of agriculture, I believe, falls under the Hon. Bob McLeod, so I'd redirect that.
As the Member indicates, having been born and raised in the Northwest Territories, I do know that producing your own food is certainly one way of reducing the costs. At one time every family that lived in the community had their own garden plot, and this is something the department has attempted to encourage. We do have a program where we assist communities to develop their own gardens and to start growing their own food, and we assist them to do so.
Mr. Speaker, that’s certainly a project that I’m aware of. It’s pretty modest; it’s not taken up very well. I’ve been working with the community of Fort Providence myself indirectly through non-government organizations on these issues. Every community is full of people that require food, so we need a comprehensive, well-thought-out, well-laid-out program across the Northwest Territories that encourages this. There are challenges in different areas, but there are huge opportunities just the same.
Once again I’m asking what new comprehensive programs are being put in place with this budget to address the need for local food production that will also address many of our problems in the North.
We are in the process of negotiating an agrifood agreement with the federal government. Once that is concluded, then we will be able to communicate what we’ve been successful in negotiating to the communities. Production of food is certainly something we want to encourage and to see continuing to grow.
Mr. Speaker, again I’m talking local here. It would be great to see the federal government involved, but I’m talking the Northwest Territories communities; I’m talking about our own people. We need to be doing this ourselves. We need to provide the leadership. We have small communities; these are not huge bunches of people out there. We have demonstrated productivity of our land back in the ’60s and ’50s and ’40s.
Will the Minister and Cabinet commit to putting together comprehensive plans to meet our basic needs like the food situation? Let’s start with this Minister and food.
Mr. Speaker, what the Member raises is certainly an objective that we’ve been working to achieve, and we are talking about our own people in our own communities. As the budget indicated yesterday, there are a number of strategic initiative committees. I think the Managing This Land Strategic Initiative will be looking at the whole area of agriculture, and we would look at identifying dollars that are available for investment with agriculture. If the committee comes out that it’s a priority — and I certainly think it is — then we’ll be doing more in this area.
Mr. Speaker, I hear a tendency to think as if this is a complex situation and so on, and big agriculture…. I’m sure there is a role for agriculture here, and we obviously need to support it a lot more. But there are a lot of local situations that could be addressed without that.
You know, we’re pouring huge subsidies into our communities because of these situations.
Will the Minister also commit to looking into requiring some service from the people that we’re subsidizing and that are able to take advantage? In other words, we cannot continue to support rising costs. Why not start requiring some service that actually enhances skills and capabilities and allows people to develop the potential for pursuing their own economic development? Again, a new approach is needed.
Mr. Speaker, I’m not sure if the Member is talking about workfare or something where people who are on income support should be put to work. But there have been a number of different programs over the years, and I guess we’d have to check to see whether they’re still in existence. I recall IRAP, for example, where you would get money to do projects, but you could only hire people that were on income assistance to do the work. But certainly I think that any program where we can help people acquire new skills, I’d be supportive. I’d certainly be willing to look at it.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 12, petitions. Item 13, reports of standing and special committees. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
