Thank you, Madam Chair. This might be a little bit more difficult. I kind of feel sorry for the neighbours, 25 chickens next door. We are going to be amending our own regulatory framework so that we can remove barriers to developing food production businesses. Lands will be reviewing its policy and regulations in that regard. However, this might also be a municipal issue, Madam Chair. Therefore, we would need to work with the municipal government. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Yes, I don't think there is a municipal issue here, at least in this particular instance. Maybe I could just get a little bit more detail about what some of the barriers are right now with the current regulatory framework when it comes to local food production. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. If we can direct the question to the Minister of ENR.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.

Sorry. Thank you, Madam Chair. When we are looking at barriers, it is about trying to work with the communities to see what they want to do, what they want to harvest, and then again it is making sure that we are doing things within the right act, the framework and policies, moving forward. Again, it is about also training some of the staff. It is a mentoring process to it. Again, so these are some of the challenges from ENR's aspect of it. It is about how we work with the governments.

On my other half, it is about the ability to deal with the land. Again, it comes down to our regulations and how we can fix some of these things about agriculture and how do we use that land and how we can work with them to get it. Right now, we have really high rates, but that is from the previous process that we had done, so that is part of the regulation. We are trying to work on those things. Those are a couple of the challenges that we see moving forward.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I think I will start over again. This is a guy who has already got chickens. He has got them here in Yellowknife. There seem to be some issues around food handling, maybe education, inspection stuff. This is not an ENR issue. As I understand, it is probably an environmental health issue, which is health and social services. What are the current barriers, and what are we going to do to improve food handling, inspection services, and so on to allow for local food production and retail? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I apologize for that. There are quite a few departments. You are absolutely right; the department of health will be having to look at some of their regulatory frameworks, as well. For example, people who might want to provide produce or canned preserves in the community market, we would need to do some kitchen because, right now, there is a requirement for an industrial kitchen. Those are things we need to look at: if you are small production, do you need to have that? The other one I know from running the homeless shelter was being able to utilize, I hate to use the term "road kill," is kind of what I know it as, and so that was always an issue, and so meat spoiling because we could not use that meat when, in my case, women were hungry. Those are some of the issues that we need to address as we move forward. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. That is, I think, more of what I was looking for, and that is probably what this individual is also looking for. I want to go to work on Nutrition North. I do not have any difficulty with what is proposed here, but I think the other thing that is missing, that I do not see here, is that we need to work with Nunavut and Yukon to put pressure on the federal government to design a much better Nutrition North program that does not reward retailers, that actually rewards perhaps producers, local producers, and consumers of food, not retailers. Is that something that this government is going to be doing, as well? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Absolutely. The three territories have over the years, many years is my understanding, developed strong partnerships when we go to speak to the federal government. We will continue to do so, and I will make a commitment to bring this issue forward to the other two Premiers. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. While I am on a roll, another general observation I would like to offer with this particular mandate item is: there are a few deliverables here, but I had hoped to see some actual targets. Are we going to increase local food production by 25 percent by the end of four years or whatever the target is? I am just wondering: do we actually track local food production and consumption in a way where it is measurable, where we could set targets? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. At this point, we cannot put targets such as "improve food production by 25 percent" because we haven't done a base analysis of what actually we are producing. You cannot increase things when you do not know where you stand at the moment. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Yes, okay. Then that is clearly something we need to do, and it needs to be in here. Unfortunately, we cannot change this right now, but I would really encourage, then, that we develop a system of measuring local food production because, if we don't have a way of measuring it, how can we know whether any of these things in here are actually going to improve and increase local food production. Can I get a commitment out of the Premier that we will develop a system of measuring local food production and consumption? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. In my opening comments on the mandate, there was a paragraph that says we also recognize that, to better report and meaningfully measure progress, in many cases, we need to establish indicators and improve program evaluation. The work we do towards ambitious goals set in the mandate will include the establishment of new indicators and a greater focus on program evaluation. Madam Chair, as I have said many times, one of my specialties is an accreditation in best practices. Therefore, we are going to be doing more measurable outcomes throughout the GNWT over the next four years. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Member for Frame Lake.