Bob McLeod

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Minister of Health and Social Services will be late arriving in the House today due to a personal matter. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm not aware that our staff have been directly engaged as of yet, but we have a very good working relationship with the federal Department of Crown Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs. We will endeavour to engage with them, so that we continue to stay on top of this issue and help facilitate a resolution that we are able to do so. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Prime Minister has responded. The letter will be tabled likely tomorrow, as well.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize the Page from Yellowknife South, Liam Butte, and also all of the other Pages who have worked here these past few weeks. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 181-18(3): Midwifery Programs and Policies." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Prime Minister in his response indicated and advised that he was forwarding my letter to the Minister of Crown Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, and that since then, it is my understanding that the Regional Director General for the Department of Crown Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs has agreed to enter into discussions with the Yellowknives Dene First Nations and is working with the chiefs to schedule a meeting.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I did write a letter to the Prime Minister as contemplated in the motion of October 20, 2017. I will be tabling that letter probably tomorrow. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Glen Abernethy will be late arriving in the House today due to a personal matter. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I believe we already have such an agreement, the Mackenzie River Basin Transboundary Waters Master Agreement, in which negotiations began in 1960, was signed in 1997, and commits the Governments of Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Yukon, and Canada, and now includes Nunavut, towards cooperatively managing the water and aquatic ecosystems of the entire Mackenzie River Basin.

This agreement makes provisions for the parties to negotiate bilateral water management agreements to waters that are shared directly between two jurisdictions, and as per the master agreement, the Northwest...

In the Mackenzie River basin, every province and territory is responsible for water management within their own jurisdictions. Transboundary agreements are bilateral in nature and, as such, address waters that flow between two jurisdictions. The waters of the Peace River flow directly between British Columbia and Alberta.

The Northwest Territories-Alberta Bilateral Water Management Agreement deals directly with waters that flow between Alberta and the Northwest Territories, such as the Slave River. This is the approach defined in the Mackenzie River Basin Transboundary Master Agreement. As...