Caroline Wawzonek

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am also excited for the summer coming back. Right now, the planned reservation time for parks will be a staged opening between May 4th and May 7th. Thank you.

First of all, I had April 1st as the fiscal year in my head and said one complaint. It's three, not one; my apologies. Nonetheless, fortunately, not a significantly large increase. At present, there is not a report per se. Again, not having a very large number of complaints, I don't know that a report has been necessary to date. That said, they certainly do gather up all of the complaints. Procurement Shared Services does process those complaints. The Comptroller General does receive notice of the finalized complaints. They certainly are reviewed throughout the government, and the purpose of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have been trying to be quite clear, both with the panel and publicly, that I think it's important that the panel have the opportunity and ability to do their work independently from my office, from government, and remain objective and remain creative and do what they need to do. I have not directed them to do that, and I have not heard back from them at present on whether they intend to do that. I'm sure, if the message doesn't get back to them through the course of this forum, then I can certainly make the inquiry on behalf of the MLA. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I certainly am keen to see what can be done with respect to ensuring that we continue to grow this industry, not only in terms of its commercial value but also as far as it may impact on food security more generally. For now, Mr. Speaker, what I can say: if there is a community that is looking to have a greenhouse, looking to have access to some agricultural opportunities, I would urge them to speak to their local economic development officer or other ITI officer. There are programs and projects that can help support them, whether in terms of the training that may be needed or in terms of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I am very happy to say that we certainly are planning to have a new strategy, and with respect to success or not, I can say that, when the strategy first began back in 2017, there were very few commercial producers. We are now numbering roughly eight to 10 with some significant growth in the area. We are gathering the information now, and I would expect that more formal engagements will happen beginning possibly as early as the end of this year and, if not, early in 2022 so that it is ready indeed to roll out in due course next year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Last year, there was a coupon program that encouraged people to stay longer in the parks, and we are looking right now at doing that again. It did seem to be very successful. It was highly subscribed, so while I am not in a position to stand and make any official announcements right now, we certainly are actively looking at doing that again, precisely to encourage people to get out and utilize the facilities of the fantastic parks that we do have. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

One of the things that COVID did not change is the weather, and as such, we are still sticking with the usual dates for opening. This accommodates the fact that those who have the contracts to do the campgrounds and to operate the parks need some time, once they are able to get in there, once the thaw has begun, to actually get in there and make facilities functional and usable. We are right now anticipating the same usual opening date, which would be May 15th for most parks and/or the May 24th long weekend for the other parks.

Again, Mr. Speaker, the policy right now allows individuals who have gone through the procurement process or who have considered applying on a procurement process to look there and to see whether they would be eligible to make their complaint. It would go through the client department that they are working with and then involve Procurement Shared Services and, if necessary, yes, of course, to the Comptroller General's Office. It's not a formal report per se that gets completed. At this point, in fact, my understanding is that the three that were dealt with were dealt with in a manner that did...

I can say that, over the course of approximately six years, there were only 19 complaints, and in fact, this fiscal year thus far, there has only been one. I certainly will look to compile that information and provide it for the use and review of the panel. As for what they may do with it, obviously, that is certainly up to them. Again, we'll see where it goes, but certainly, we can compile that and provide it for their use.

Those two departments, while under one Minister, have different areas, and they may not necessarily flow into the agriculture-commercial sector, for which ITI is responsible. Notwithstanding, Mr. Speaker, I was happy to discover very recently through my colleague that take a kid gardening is, in fact, a program that exists in schools across the Northwest Territories. Absolutely, I will commit to speaking to the Minister of ECE and the Minister of Justice to see what we can do to bring some synergy to this area and to agriculture more broadly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.