Thank you, Madam Speaker. I rise today, Madam Speaker, to talk about spice. I would like to thank Madam Speaker, and I hope this won't be taken the wrong way, for putting spice into my life.
---Laughter
As Members will know, I have always been interested in projects of a modest nature that really do something for economy. I have always believed in renewable resources and what renewable resources means to the vast majority of our people. At my age, I appreciate spice and I would like to thank the Speaker for making us aware that there is a lady in Fort Smith who, for several decades, has been trying to develop a northern spice.
I was struck many years ago when I was in New Orleans that they had developed a distinctive cuisine and everywhere you went you could buy spice, all kinds of spice, that could accompany cajun cooking. These were the kinds of gifts that people bought when they were in New Orleans and they were looking for something for $5 to $10. They would take some spice home because this was a reasonably priced memento of their visit to that part of the world.
Very often over the last couple of decades, I have been interested in our northern environment. I have picked up lots of stuff from the bush, things like wild chives and wild sage. I've done all kinds of work myself to try to make food more interesting. I would like to compliment Madam D on a project called "Madam D's gold medal gourmet meat seasoning," which Members are aware of. This is the kind of project that, in my opinion -- if we were to look at it as a modest thing -- if developed, could have a massive impact. Northern cuisine and northern products like this have great potential, some of which can be collected from our own bush and developed into a distinctive northern product.