Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on my Member’s statement and direct my questions to the Minister of ITI. I noticed that the 2009 edition of the NWT Economic Review contains a lot of statistics about our major resource sectors but there’s no information on agriculture, forestry, or cultural industries outside of our arts and crafts. As I said the other day, our statistics people tell us that if we don’t measure it, we don’t care about it. That may be extreme, but struggling local mushroom harvesters are working hard to get that industry going and we need to take their needs into account. What will this Minister do to ensure that ENR does the necessary authority and management work to allow them to develop the business side and what will the Minister do on the business side?
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Whoever in statistics the Member is referring to, we would never say that those sectors were too unimportant to be counted because we feel that agriculture is an important part of our economy. Certainly in the past we introduced the harvesting of morel mushrooms into the Northwest Territories, so we will continue to work with my colleague to see that sector developed.
I’m not sure how we could have done that if we don’t have authority for working with those resources. Perhaps the Minister could explain that to me and what he’s doing on the licensing side and training side for this industry.
We all know that when there are forest fires, usually a year later there’s a growth of morel mushrooms. In the past, as a government, we made this information available and provided some equipment. I believe we even had some training sessions. As far as licensing and certification, that would be something that if we wanted to do that we would have to check the legal requirements to do so. But it was mainly like picking berries. You don’t need to be licensed to pick berries.
As I outlined in my Member’s statement, this is quite a valuable industry that’s out there waiting for some support. There is a small core of harvesters that I’m sure poked the government to get something going earlier but they are still awaiting support. I will ask this Minister again if he will commit to working with them to develop those necessary licences and whatever regulatory supports are needed to ensure that the industry benefits our residents rather than walk straight across the border as has happened again this past summer. Thank you.
We certainly believe that this harvesting of mushrooms is a valuable sector and we will work with the Department of ENR to look at what’s required to develop legislation and how we could make sure that the benefits attribute to the people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister raised the issue of agricultural support so I’d like to ask, will the Minister ensure that the development of land use plans and agriculture plans take into account the opportunities for a mushroom harvesting industry. Thank you.
As part of our Managing This Land Strategic Initiative we are developing a land use framework for the Government of the Northwest Territories which will look at all of the different interests in Northwest Territories lands. As part of that we will ensure that morel mushrooms harvesting is included. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
