Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I wanted to talk about a dream that I always had, and one day that dream will become a reality. That dream is the idea of a potato farm. We can make it happen. I’d like to pose a question to the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
I want to know how responsive the Minister and this Cabinet and this government is to people out in the communities, because when you travel into the communities, people know some of the solutions to the problems that we face and the challenges that we have to meet every day that we live in communities.
The potato, of course, people know of the history of the people that came up North, and they grew their own gardens. One of the durable products that I’ve come to know is the potato. We have the right soil. In Fort Providence it’s a durable staple. Plus, at the same time, we’re situated right in the hub of the transportation where we have the river system and we have the highway system. It wouldn’t take much if there was an idea of planting an area of potatoes and building a processing facility to sell and market them and lessen the cost of living.
The question that I have is for the Minister of ITI. Does the Minister agree that this is a good idea and can be done and that this will probably curb the cost of goods in the North?
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve made great strides when it comes to developing an agricultural industry here in the Northwest Territories. The Member has a good idea. I was with the Member recently this summer and we traveled down the river and there were farms historically near the community of Fort Providence. We’d certainly like to see some of that agricultural initiative renewed, and we have programs in place at ITI, working through our South Slave office, to support individuals in the Member’s community that want to get involved with agriculture. We’ve seen success stories around the Northwest Territories when you look at communities like Norman Wells, Gameti recently. If you can get somebody in the community and identify a real community leader to take on that initiative, that would be a good start.
Of course, we have the Northern Farm Training Institute that just recently received some federal funding, and hopefully some folks from Fort Providence can attend that training institute and bring those skills back to the community of Fort Providence.
I take that the Minister does, in fact, agree and support the idea of a potato farm.
With that, what is his department prepared to do to assist individuals or groups that want to grow products such as potatoes or even community gardens in their home community?
Yes, we do support the development of agriculture in the Member’s riding and all ridings across the Northwest Territories. I’d encourage anybody from the Member’s communities, if they are interested in pursuing initiatives, to contact us at our South Slave office in Hay River and we’d be more than happy to help them out.
Why can’t we make this work? This is a very practical, doable idea, and what is stopping this Minister and this Cabinet and this government of addressing a very practical need in communities? These are ideas that come from people in the communities. They know. If it was a person from the average community, you would want to know. Why can’t this be done now?
The success that we’ve seen in some other communities around the Northwest Territories has been initiated by a real community leader, somebody that is very interested in seeing that project advance. That’s why, as I mention earlier, the Farm Training Institute is so important, so that people can go to Hay River, get some training, go back to their communities and be real community leaders when it comes to developing agriculture in the communities.
Again, I’d ask the Member, if he’s got somebody in his community that is interested, we are here to help. We’d be more than happy to help community leaders and community members develop agriculture products in the communities to help offset the high cost of food in our communities.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will give the Minister a last chance.
Does he agree and support the idea of a potato farm in Fort Providence? Yes or no.
I prefer my potatoes with mushrooms. Yes, if we can advance that idea, I would certainly support that idea.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
