Thank you, Mr. Speaker, the YK Dene First Nations are interested in, of course, making all the appropriate applications; the deadline for those are on July 5th. They feel that they want to have a meeting with the Minister, this is scheduled for June 30thbecause of Session, but the community is asking if the Minister would be prepared to meet with them a couple of days earlier than what it scheduled on June 30th. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm losing my voice here. I was back home doing a lot of talking over the last few days, and a lot of speeches the last couple of days as well. Unfortunately, during session time we are-- there's a lot of meetings that go on here in the House as well as session and going through our budget process. However, my schedule doesn't really confirm that I'd be able to meet before the 30th, although I will commit that officials in my department are available to meet before the 30th. Should a time open up that I might have some time, I will also look forward to trying to meet ahead of time. I know there is a short timeline to get the applications through. Pending availability I will keep in touch with our officials and I know our officials are talking with members of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation and should a time come up I'd be happy to meet with them earlier than later.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment about the draft Agriculture Strategy the government shared with Committee earlier in the week. I also want to take this opportunity to thank the Minister and his department for the work that they have done in both the consultations that have been conducted as well as the current draft.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister share how the strategy will integrate the work of the Northern Farm Training Institute, the Aurora Research Institute, and the in-house work of the department to make the most effective use of our resources and knowledge base? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Agriculture is a very important sector to our government and part of the Mandate of the 18thLegislative Assembly. We have provided the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment with a draft Agriculture Strategy for review and look forward to hearing back from the committee. A key recommendation of the proposed strategy is that various organizations need to work together, including departmental collaboration to ensure that we all use our resources efficiently and effectively.

Another recommendation is the creation of a central repository or a common public point of information sharing. This portal will assist community advocates as multiple agencies will be contributing to shared data program. And I should also point out that we've worked very closely with all of the agencies that the Member referred to and they've played a very large part of developing our draft Agriculture Strategy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you to the Minister for his reply. I'm happy to hear about the portal and shared data; I'm sure that will be very useful. Mr. Speaker, what steps are included in the strategy to identify and make more land accessible for agriculture?

To date we haven't had any requests for very large areas of land for agriculture purposes but we do anticipate that happening in the future. And so the strategy does speak to potential land use within municipal boundaries and authorities. Part of the implementation will be guided by the land use and sustainability framework which serves as the underpinning of all decisions in respect to land, including the development of land for the agriculture sector in the Northwest Territories.

The issue of access to land for agriculture will be reviewed through collaborative processes with municipalities and Aboriginal governments and land use planning boards and committees, and as land claims are settlement there will certainly be more certainty in this area.

Certainly certainty is what most are looking for and that would be appreciated. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister share what steps are outlined in the strategy to develop and support education, knowledge and best practices about food production at the community level?

The draft Agriculture Strategy has many recommendations on how to develop and support educational programs and educational resource development for agriculture. We will encourage and support the development and delivery of courses for community and regional trainers. The goal with the strategy is to improve overall capacity by having more people involved in northern agriculture, and we will develop foundational safe agriculture and food production, education resources including community and private sharing agriculture and harvesting of non-animal products. And the draft Agriculture Strategy is built on five pillars, including planning, knowledge, leadership, marketing channels and access to productive resources.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister for his reply. My last question, Mr. Speaker: what evaluation measures are included in the strategy to evaluate the effectiveness of our investments in agriculture, both in terms of dollars and with regard to new programs and initiatives launched under the new strategy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As Stompin' Tom would say the best test is right at the table.

---Laughter

But I agree it's important to make sure our programs are effective. We have seen increased interest in our agriculture program as more and more people are growing their own food. We're still in early days as the strategy has not been released; however, we will review the effectiveness of this strategy as we move forward into implementation.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Look, it's pretty clear in terms of agriculture, we know what we want to do, it's the question of how, and critically, of course, is when. So I understand that the draft Agriculture Strategy has gone to the appropriate standing committee, it's under review as the Minister indicated, can the Minister give us a timeline on the target implementation for some of the strategy's immediate and short-term actions? Mahsi.

Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When the Member in his Member's Statement referred to food from Mars I thought he had talked to my grandson who-- I was talking to him yesterday or the other day and he said he had a project that he was working on and I asked him what it was. He said he and his friend were planning a trip to Mars and he lamented that he had the hard part of the job because he had to find a way to get to Mars; his friend had the easy job, he just had to figure out how to grow food on Mars, so.

---Laughter

In regards to your specific question, our department has been working with the Zhahti Koe Friendship Centre since late 2015 on developing a community garden. They secured a land lot recently and fencing has been ordered. Twenty raised garden boxes, a tool shed and compost bins are ready and will be shipped to the community. The department has not received any applications specific to commercial gardening or greenhouses at this point. We also run the Take a Kid Gardening Program in the schools. We have a regional office that's very ready and willing and prepared to work with anybody that's interested to getting more into the agriculture commercial side. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I think the Minister outlined in general that no applications have been received in terms of providing assistance for community members at the local level. Can he explain how can residents and communities access funding for greenhouse projects and other local initiatives under the Northern Food Development Program?

I'd like to reassure the Member that we're not waiting until the Northwest Territories Agriculture Strategy becomes the strategy. Right now as we go forward we certainly encourage Northwest Territories residents to become involved in agriculture. Our ITI regional offices are the contacts for anyone interested in learning more about agriculture, including the development of greenhouses, and the department will be pleased to work with all communities to make progress on this front.

I'd like to thank the Minister for his reply. It's very encouraging that we're not-- we need to develop a strategy but those programs and services could be readily available for people at the local level. How is agriculture being incorporated into the GNWT science agenda?

The Growing Forward 2 Agreement provides up to $1.2 million annually in cost-shared investment to the Northwest Territories agricultural sector to increase resource capacity to grow food in all NWT communities. The Small Scale Foods Program is delivered in all 33 Northwest Territories communities through ITI's regional offices primarily in support of community gardens. We have seen much success with the insulation of community greenhouses in communities on the Beaufort Sea. Many of the initiatives are community led and the department is pleased to provide insight, support and expertise.

As the Member knows, we have the Northern Farmers Training Institute, and certainly I see that as being a very excellent program that would help deliver to our science agenda. We know that research into agriculture and development of agriculture products is very much done in the south, and certainly with this institute we believe we can tap into these funding sources as well.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.