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Natural Resources November 22, 2006 The following statement was issued today by the Honourable Kathy Dunderdale, Minister of Natural Resources. It was also read in the House of Assembly: I rise today to inform the House of another new initiative to diversify the economy and create meaningful long-term employment in our agriculture industry. I am announcing today that government has agreed to assist Brookfield Dairy Group to expand its premium ice-cream production operation. The expansion will see Brookfield using industrial milk from our province�s dairy farmers to produce high-quality specialty ice-creams. We are investing $1 million under our Agriculture and Agrifoods Development Fund in the initiative with Brookfield contributing the remaining $4 million. In other words , the province is providing 20 per cent to assist in this industry expansion and our private sector partner is investing the remaining 80 per cent. Government supporting this type of investment is important as it works on so many levels. Under the plan, Brookfield has committed to expanding its processing operation in St. John�s and to creating 44 new full-time, permanent jobs over the next five years. The province is confident in Brookfield�s plan as the company has a proven track record in the ice cream business with 87 full-time and 23 part-time employees. These are secondary processing jobs that add significant value to our milk production. Supporting the development of higher-level processing in this province is a key element of our plan to diversify our economy and keep these jobs in Newfoundland and Labrador. As part of this initiative, Brookfield is committed to buying one million litres of industrial milk from our dairy farmers each year. Our dairy farmers joined the National Milk Marketing Plan in 2001 and were allocated an annual share of the national Market Sharing Quota. The goal was to produce 31 million litres of industrial milk annually by the year 2016. I�m proud to say we are on track to reach that goal. This year, the Dairy Farmers of Newfoundland and Labrador will produce 17.5 million litres of industrial milk. While our farmers have been exporting the vast majority of that milk up to this point, this announcement and other initiatives currently being worked on are helping to ensure more industrial milk will be processed right here. This government is committed to our farmers and to giving them the tools they need to continue their work right across this province - especially in rural Newfoundland and Labrador where innovative farmers are building a future for themselves and their communities. 2006 11 22                                  2:20 p.m.