Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the Sahtu and talked about the remarkable harvesting that we had of spuds in our region, actually now unofficially the potato capital of the Northwest Territories. I want to ask the Minister in regard to this area here, in terms of on a going-forward basis, would the Minister look at ways, as he stated in his ministerial statement, in terms of creating more avenues to have food produced in the North that would be sold in the grocery stores and that, more importantly, the marketing should happen as soon as possible with these producers in the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for that important question, because everybody needs food to survive on, especially potatoes. I’m reminded of that Stompin’ Tom Connors song of ketchup loves potatoes, so… But this is an initiative of this government. We feel that we need to find ways to increase the production of food locally, and we feel that this is another way to reduce the cost of living and provide for more self-reliance. We are looking at a number of different ways, in partnership with the Government of Canada, to utilize local natural resources, and we are going to be looking at a number of different areas such as fish, muskox, other products, vegetables and so on so that we can find ways so people can use for themselves and also look for opportunities to market them commercially. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Minister mentioned in his ministerial statement that there is no reason why we can’t have food produced in the Northwest Territories and sold in grocery stores, hotels and restaurants. Mr. Speaker, I certainly agree with the Minister in this statement here. I would ask the Minister, in terms of going ahead, in terms of making this a reality, what can the Minister do to advise his department, his council, in terms of making this a reality for the people in the Northwest Territories, people who are paying a high price for groceries in the Sahtu region, so they can certainly enjoy this initiative.
I should point out that it wasn’t that long ago, maybe 20 or 30 years ago, where because of our isolation in the Northwest Territories, that most, I’d say all of the communities were self-sufficient and self-reliant with regard to food production. We’re now at the stage where we’re starting to take baby steps and we’re starting with the Small Scale Foods Program. We’re starting to look at bigger ventures. I think that some Members have raised agriculture as an option, and that’s something that we continue to look at. Even others as we get further into it, we could see how we can continue to provide incentives for local food production. Thank you.
MR. YAKELEYA: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the Sahtu there are
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will jump on the wagon if I can find one. Seriously, this is an objective and a goal for us. There are some challenges that we will have to address. Anytime you serve food and you provide food, you have to deal with health guidelines and you have to make sure that the food is safe and fresh and so on. These are the kinds of challenges that we have to face, but I think on a go-forward basis we can begin to work at it and we can take small steps. The more successful we get as we go along, the bigger we can get. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Time for question period has expired. I will allow the Member a final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is no small potatoes initiative here going ahead in terms of this program.
Mr. Speaker, we in the communities have eaten off our land for many years; our food, our fish and vegetables. We are still here. My people are still in the Sahtu. It is the current policies and regulations that stop us. We need to change that. I want to ask this Minister in terms of changing these policies. You have to come down to realities of the communities to make this happen and always be beggars in terms of our being slaves to the current policies that prevent us from what is actually given to us by the good Lord. Again, with his forcefulness, can this Minister go to his counterparts and say, we are going to make changes? Let’s shake this ground here. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, yes, we are going to shake things up and especially now that we know they can grow one-pound potatoes in the Sahtu. This is an area that we are looking at and combined we have to also look at inter-settlement trade so that we can move the resources around and so on. I think this is a very important initiative for this government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 9, written questions. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 8, oral questions, on the Order Paper. Thank you.
---Unanimous consent granted
The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
