Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize a newly elected woman councillor to the City of Yellowknife, Mira Hall. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize Mira Hall, a constituent of Yellowknife Centre and the most recent addition as a YK1 School Board trustee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
I would like to recognize Mr. Gordon Norberg originally from Tuk, his wife and his daughter Natasha. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
I would like to also recognize Mr. Gordie Norberg and his family. Gordie was the goaltender for the famous Grollier Hall finalists.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. I welcome everyone in the gallery today. I hope you are enjoying the proceedings. It is always nice to have an audience in here.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to acknowledge the newly elected chief of Deninu K’ue of First Nations, Louis Balsillie.
Last night the DKFN held an election to elect a new chief and council. Louis Balsillie, who was acting chief for the last two years, was elected in a very, very close race.
Recently there had been some issues and uncertainty with respect to the leadership, so it is good to see this issue behind them.
With that, I would like to congratulate Chief Balsillie and the newly elected council. I look forward to working with him. Mahsi cho.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions today for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. R.C. McLeod. I guess I should apologize to Mr. Michael McLeod. I know the Hay River Reserve is in his riding, which would also benefit from the implementation of a 911 service here in the Northwest Territories, Mr. Speaker. So if you look at the entire Cabinet, every one of them touches a community that would benefit greatly from the implementation of a 911 service here in the Northwest Territories. I would like to ask the Minister of MACA if he could provide me with an explanation on why the government can’t come forward with a workable implementation plan on a 911 service that addresses how the service could be provided in all communities across the Northwest Territories that want it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of course, safety is always one of our biggest concerns as a Cabinet. The Member makes a good point. We all here have communities that would potentially benefit from a 911 service. I have said on a few occasions that the communities have it within their power and they have the means to provide the service to their residents if they decide it is a priority for their community. I have also said that there are a couple of communities that are working on trying to enhance their emergency services before they take the next step into planning and implementing 911. Thank you.
I appreciate the response from the Minister, but does the government not have an obligation to all residents across the Northwest Territories to come up with an implementation plan on a 911 service that is workable across the entire Territory? If it has to be started by being phased in in some of the larger communities, so be it. I would like to ask the Minister, why is the government not working towards a phased-in approach of a 911 service here in the Northwest Territories for communities that are ready, willing and able to participate with the government to let that happen? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, in a lot of jurisdictions across the country it is the municipal government that provides the 911 service and funds it themselves. That is a position that we have taken, is that the communities have the financial ability to implement 911 if they choose to do so. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, so I guess what I am hearing the Minister say is the size of community does matter, the ability to pay does matter. I don’t agree with that premise. I guess the next question I have to ask the Minister is: can the Minister tell me which communities in the Northwest Territories today have the ability to pay for a 911 service themselves? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we provide capital funding to the communities. We also provide gas tax funding to the communities. The seven communities in question that are mentioned in the report, between them they have $17 million in their capital infrastructure dollars and their gas tax money. They would be able to fund it. There is some concern from some of the other communities about a central dispatch not being in their community. They are just afraid that it would have the same effect as if you had to call the RCMP sometimes. They do forward you on to Yellowknife. So there is a concern with that too. But the communities do have the means to implement a 911 service if that is what they chose to do. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Mr. Speaker, my final question to the Minister would be -- and it sounds like the government has already made a decision on this -- are they not going to help communities across the Northwest Territories implement the 911 service in the seven communities that are identified in the report? The government is washing its hands of that and letting the communities do it themselves. Is that what I’m hearing? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, washing our hands of anything is not something that we do. We provide money to the communities to look after their infrastructure. They have that authority. It is an authority that a lot of communities have wanted. We will work with the communities as far as coming up with the plan. We are always willing to work with the communities, Mr. Speaker. For us to come back and say, well, we are going to do this, I think it defeats the purpose of devolving a lot of responsibility on to the community. So, Mr. Speaker, the communities have it within their means to implement 911 service when they feel it’s a priority in their community, and safety is always a priority. That’s why we’ve had some communities say that they want to enhance their ability to respond to accidents before they have 911 services in their communities, because all of us in here know somebody or have had somebody that could have used this service, but right now some of the communities want to be able to build up their emergency services before looking at 911. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions, Mr. Speaker, are for the Minister of ITI and follow in line with Mr. Hawkins’ and Mr. Bromley’s statements today. Mr. Speaker, the topic of agriculture and advancing agriculture in the Northwest Territories is something that I don’t feel has been given the attention it deserves, considering its potential. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister of ITI if any work has been done by his department in identifying the economic potential of enhancing and increasing agriculture in the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was trying to think of the biggest word I could use to describe what a good idea it is to promote agriculture. So my colleague suggested I use supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. But the Department of ITI has been trying to promote and develop the agriculture sector for some time and we’ve done some work over the years and we do sector strategies in all areas and certainly agriculture is one of them. Thank you.
In order to conduct agricultural activities on any scale that could go some ways towards the percentages that have been referred to, land is required and, of course, land outside of municipalities, at least in the South Slave, that would be suitable for this endeavour is land that is mostly not available for sale or for private ownership due to unsettled land claims. Does the Minister see his department having any role in identifying and perhaps brokering a deal between folks who have traditional claim to the land and those who may want to use it for a sustainable and low-impact activity such as agriculture? Thank you.
The Member correctly points out the inherent challenges in agriculture and farming in the Northwest Territories is lack of access to land. The many examples that were used, I know in Fort Providence there was a large attempt at introducing farming and ranching in the 1980s and that failed mainly because of the lack of access to land, amongst other challenges. But certainly our government works through land claims negotiations. We don’t have access to lands, we don’t own lands as such other than the federal government owns the majority of the lands, the other large landholders are aboriginal governments. We, through devolution, are hoping to work toward getting management and control of lands and we are also working on a land use framework that would identify areas that would be utilized for agriculture, forestry, other resource development at the time when we do achieve devolution.
Not wanting to be pessimistic about the conclusion of all those kinds of activities that the Minister is referring to, I’ve lived in the Northwest Territories 35 years and the progress has been very, very slow. I don’t want to ascribe blame to the federal or territorial governments or to the claimant groups. I mean, the fact of the matter is that these lands are not available now and yet they could be used and the claimant groups could derive revenue, the person creating the agricultural activity on the land could generate revenue and we could produce crops and food closer to the people who live in the Northwest Territories. So I would ask the Minister, given this current set of circumstances and situation, is there anything that his department could do to broker some kind of an arrangement where people could lease land for agricultural purposes? Thank you.
We’ve already identified the municipality of Hay River, for example, the process by which they could access land for agricultural purposes and that they could tax it at a lower rate for the benefit of the farmers and that process is there.
With regard to the other land claims, the Dehcho Land Claim negotiation, the Metis Land Claim negotiation, the Akaitcho negotiations, all of those are under interim protection. So the aboriginal governments could be approached, they haven’t indicated that they would be open to those kind of negotiations. The other areas where they have settled land claims, I’m sure they’re willing to negotiate areas of land that could be made available for agriculture for the right prices. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to know where that land is that’s been made available in the Hay River area. I’m not aware of it. But, Mr. Speaker, are there already existing programs within ITI, within the Government of the Northwest Territories, because obviously it takes a fair amount of money when you’re breaking land from raw land and the equipment and everything that’s required. Are there funds and support and interest on the part of ITI in assisting proponents who may be interested in becoming involved in this activity? Thank you.
Presently we have a Small Market Garden Initiative whereby we make equipment available in communities that are interested in participating so that they could grow potatoes, vegetables and what have you, and 18 of the 33 communities have taken advantage of that program and are growing vegetables and so on. We have the Growing Forward Agreement that was recently renewed with the federal government that provides assistance on a number of areas to promote agriculture, and those are the two primary areas that we’re involved in. Also, we’re trying to find ways to promote more local production in a number of food sectors. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on the questions from my colleague Mrs. Groenewegen. Agriculture obviously presents many opportunities for good jobs that last for generations, are sustainable, provide local employment, they have lots of economic spinoffs in construction, transportation, the service industry and so on. The question of land remains as a big issue and apparently the only opportunity that’s readily available is municipal lands.
We met with the Territorial Farmers’ Association. They need to know what lands are available, what lands had been zoned agriculture and what are available. Will the Minister commit to simply inventorying the current lands that are zoned agricultural in municipalities and make it available to the Territorial Farmers’ Association, that information along with whether or not it’s available, already being used or available? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d be quite prepared to research that, although I suspect there won’t be much space identified on a map. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Work currently is underway in Yellowknife through private contract to investigate how an integrated look at food security can improve living conditions for all here in Yellowknife. This is work that the department should be doing or at least promoting and participating in, providing leadership and support in all regions of the Northwest Territories. What is the government doing or what can it be doing to provide support for this beyond simply establishing community gardens? Thank you.
We have our normal tool kit of business programs that are available to anybody who wants to pursue farming. We’ve gone and met with Arctic Farmer, for example, I’ve been to Hay River on numerous occasions, I’ve attended meetings of the Territorial Farmers’ Association, so we are definitely aware of the potential for agriculture and we are looking to find ways to provide additional support to those people who are interested in getting into the agricultural activities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate those comments from the Minister. I’m glad to hear he’s out there and becoming aware of this issue. That’s certainly the place to start. In fact, the Territorial Farmers’ Association have indicated to us that better communication with the Minister and the department would help them build on the opportunities that may be out there.
The Minister has indicated that he could approach land claim governments that are negotiating land claims through the interim land agreements that are in place right now. And that’s what we’re all about here today, Mr. Speaker, is developing the political will to do this. There are a million things we could be doing. Will the Minister approach those governments and establish what lands they would be willing to zone agricultural under long-term lease conditions? Thank you.
As a government, we have a process for participating in the various land claims and self-government organizations, and we do have a process for identifying issues for our negotiators to raise. Certainly I’ll communicate the Member’s interests to the Minister responsible for Aboriginal Affairs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that commitment. I’ll look forward to that enthusiastic endorsement and some action from this department.
On the last one, the off-road fuel rebates have not been provided to the Territorial Farmers and that’s a big one. Obviously they’re paying the non-motive fuel tax, or the motive fuel tax and this is crippling the organization. There’s clear opportunity for providing some rebates and addressing that question. Will the Minister commit to getting that straightforward resolution taken care of? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
This is an issue that has been raised by other sectors such as the fishermen, the trappers, and this is something that I’ll raise with my colleague, the Minister of Finance. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to continue on this mini theme day and the spontaneity of the issue. The issue being raised today is simply how do we promote agriculture in the Northwest Territories and produce something that’s of value and useful, Mr. Speaker.
One of the initiatives brought forward by the federal government, in partnership with the Minister of ITI, is the Growing Forward Program. If I understand it correctly, it’s a three or four-year program. It’s at $3.2 million. But in speaking to industry people, there’s a fair bit of confusion around. You know, there are five programs, are the programs tied together, and the caps on the programs of up to $10,000, and that’s a real issue, because if you’re trying to invest into net initiatives, that’s hardly any money to even bothering to get them started. So maybe if the Minister could provide some enlightenment around that situation so we can find out, are there caps of $10,000 and are the programs tied together to be useful, because otherwise they’re not. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
