Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thanks, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I’m really glad to hear that some work is happening. I’d like to know, the Minister mentioned that social services is assisting these particular children and I guess I’m thinking I would hardly want my 16-year-old daughter or son to be put into an apartment by social services. So I’m hoping that they can still stay with their foster family, if that’s where they’ve been. So I’d like to know from the Minister if that’s a possibility between 16 and 18 if they can remain with a foster family, or is it only that they get put into an apartment and are left on their own? Thank you.

Thank you. It appears as though that is what is needed. We know that the foster parents and the children themselves would rather remain in a home environment rather than just getting financial support to remain on their own. So I think that direction, I think that is the direction that Health and Social Services will be going in, and that is to try to link the child with their foster parents as long as possible. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on your earlier comments to welcome Mr. Yacub Adam also to the House. He’s a resident of Weledeh and I welcome Yacub. Great pleasure.

My questions today are to the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. The Territorial Farmers Association is eager to participate in the development of Growing Forward II programming, as I mentioned. There’s no better source of the hands-on input we need to craft the best programming before we commit to it for five years. The association has been invited to provide written comments, but as I said in my statement, they’re eager to do much more than that.

So will the Minister commit that once a draft set of programs has been developed, he will take this draft back to the association for their further comments and insights to ensure it’s highly relevant? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was certainly an honour and a pleasure to be in Whitehorse recently to sign the Growing Forward II agreement with the federal government and Minister Gerry Ritz. It is going to bring $6 million more to the Northwest Territories so that we can develop our agricultural sector here in our territory.

I thank the Member for his statement earlier today. Certainly dealing with the Territorial Farmers Association and other stakeholders around the Northwest Territories is going to be fundamental for this as we move it forward. Our aim is to develop those programs, take them out to stakeholders for consultation sometime in November, and on Friday I am going to be in Hay River and I will be meeting with the Territorial Farmers Association again. I’ve met with them in the past and I certainly look forward to all of their critical input to this as it all moves forward, and I think it’s great news for the agricultural sector and great news for our territory. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister for those comments. Indeed, a good news story here and I appreciate his commitment.

There has also been some concern with eligibility to all programs under the previous Growing Forward agreement. All communities, really, basically need to benefit equitably. I’d appreciate the Minister’s assurance that under the Growing Forward II Program all communities in the NWT will be eligible for assistance under the Small Scale Food Program. So may I be assured that this is the case? Thank you.

Thank you. Seven years ago we had I believe it was five communities in the Northwest Territories that had some type of agricultural activity happening in the community. This past year, through Growing Forward and the money that was provided to us from the federal government and the work of ITI, we’ve got

agricultural activity in 29 communities in the Northwest Territories. So our goal is to get that type of activity in all 33 communities if we can, and certainly I wouldn’t see eligibility on the Small Scale Food Program and community gardens being a barrier to any community in the Northwest Territories that wants to get involved in this as we move it forward. Thank you.

Thanks again to the Minister for those comments. In my questions to the Minister last spring regarding the need to make more agricultural land available, the Minister committed to work with the Minister of MACA, Municipal and Community Affairs, and contacted the Territorial Farmers Association to discuss their priorities to releasing more arable lands for farming. I’m pleased to hear that the Minister is meeting with the TFA next Friday.

What progress has been made on these commitments and what are the Minister’s plans to address the need for providing this industry with access to more land? It really is a modest amount of land, I think, that’s needed. Thank you.

It all continues to move forward and I think access to land obviously is a big component to this. It is a very important aspect to the Territorial Farmers Association and their list of priorities as this moves forward. We’ve had discussions with MACA and we’ll continue to pursue that, and I do look forward to meeting with the Territorial Farmers Association again this Friday to get an update from them on their activities. I think as long as we’re all working together, I do believe that we can help municipalities identify land that is or has a use for agriculture, and get the appropriate steps taken so that we can get more agricultural activity happening in communities around the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks again for those comments. Maybe we’ll look forward to a little briefing on what’s happening on that front. Good things are obviously happening for this industry, but it also needs to be supported with an appropriate big-picture context.

Zooming back a little, many jurisdictions are developing a food security system or strategy and the call has been made for a similar approach for the NWT for agriculture. Will the Minister commit to taking the extra step now to develop a food security strategy to ensure safe, reliable and local food for the health and economic and other broad benefits such an approach would ensure for the people of the NWT?

Removing barriers to get locally produced products to market and food security are certainly big issues. As this moves

forward, the funding comes, the programs come, I can see us working toward what the Member is concerned with on food security and perhaps a strategy in that regard. That may be something that falls out of these initiatives. It’s certainly something we’re interested in and I thank the Member again for raising those concerns in the House today.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to follow up on my Member’s statement on the concern about rebuilding the Nahanni Butte access road to the Minister of Transportation. The community was pleased to see Mr. Ramsay during our Nahendeh tour of August 7, 2012. At that time they had addressed the immediate concern of repairing the access road. It wasn’t able to be done this fall. Perhaps I can just begin by asking the Minister what some of the difficulties were that prevented them from repairing the road this fall.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. David Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for his statement earlier and the concern for the residents in Nahanni Butte and the condition of the access road there.

The decision was made after the road was looked at. The water covered about 17 square kilometres. Pumping it out, removing the water that way wasn’t an option. When the department looked at the various options of getting the equipment in to do the work this fall, which was what the community wanted to see happen, because of water levels and whether or not the equipment could get in, do the work, and get out, and the safety of the people working on that and the equipment, it was decided that the best approach might just be to wait until the winter when the ground is stabilized and there was no need to worry about water levels. That is what the department is intent on doing. We are going to be repairing the access road but, unfortunately, it’s not going to be able to happen until this winter when everything is frozen and in place and it is safe to repair that road. It will be done.

Typically the Nahanni Butte access road opens up just about Christmastime, and I would just like to ask the Minister what the plan is to help Nahanni Butte reconstruct that access road. It’s about planning and getting the equipment ready and getting in as soon as you can. What is the plan for the Department of Transportation to repair the access road?

As soon as it’s safe to do so, the equipment will be brought in and the work will be done. That will be once the ground is frozen. We also need to be working closely with the community of Nahanni Butte. I have heard just recently that there is some work happening. The community is doing some work out there slashing. We need to be working with the community. There can’t be any work happening in isolation of DOT and the community. We have to be working with the community.

I want to assure the Member that I will be having discussions with the department on working more closely with the community so that we cannot have any surprises, that the work can get done, so there are firm timelines in place and the community can be assured that the road will get repaired, and they’ll know exactly when that’s going to happen and it will be working with the department on how that happens.

I think it’s important for the department to get into Nahanni Butte as soon as we can to start those preliminary plans. Planning is about having the equipment ready to go by December, not February. I’d sure hate for the construction to happen in February and March when the road closes. It’s important to get the work done early, and I’d like to ask the Minister to work with his department and work with the community as soon as possible to get those plans underway. I know that contracting takes time too, so a lot of that administrative work has to get done in advance as well.

I will speak with department officials and get a firm timeline on the repairs to the access road for the Member. I will also talk to the department about perhaps getting into the community sooner rather than later to talk to community leaders about next steps on the repairs to the access road in Nahanni Butte.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I understand that costs may be a factor in repairing the road. I really don’t understand that. I thought I heard that in discussions with the residents. How can costs be a factor when these repairs should be eligible under the federal Disaster Fund as well? How is the department going to manage funding the repairs for the access road?