Mr. Speaker, I think there are a couple of pieces of information that I need to emphasize. First of all, Imperial Oil recently announced that the decision to construct would be made in 2013. The earliest if gas would flow would be in 2018 if it was a positive decision. The reasons they gave for the delay was the long delay caused by the regulatory process and also the lack of a fiscal arrangement with the federal government.

In the recent federal throne speech and the recent federal budget, the federal government had indicated that they support the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline as long as it was...

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to recognize Mr. Michael Ganley, the editor for Up Here Business magazine.

Mr. Speaker, further to my Return to Written Question 1-16(5), I wish to table the following document entitled Direct Appointments, April 2008 - March 2009, and April 2009 - February 2010. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we have been continuing to get our message out about the very negative impact that not only caused by economic slowdown but also by the lack of economic development in the region. We have been working through the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline office. We have been working with the communities and also with local businesses to try to identify the kinds of assistance that could be looked at so that we could get through this difficult period. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have worked with Mackenzie Valley Pipeline proponents and also the Aboriginal Pipeline Group in the past to determine some of the information requirements that were required for the pipeline. The Joint Review Panel has recently filed the report. Until such time as the responsible Ministers and the various governments respond, we will continue to participate through providing a government response and also continuing to intervene and participate in the different hearings as appropriate. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. We are in fact having those discussions between Aurora College and the diamond mine management through our MOU process, and this is an area that we have identified as a barrier and this is something that we’ll be working very hard to resolve. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Through the MOU on mining that the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and myself have signed with the three diamond mine companies, we’ve been focusing on three areas, one of them has been training. So through that process we are examining ways to train more people, more Northerners to go through programs that are designed specifically for employment in the three mines and other mines as they become open and processing. One of the things that we’re doing is identifying barriers that prevent any sector from being able to access training. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to recognize two hardworking Pages from Yellowknife South: Braden Redshaw and Alyx McLean. I’d also like to thank all of the Pages who have served here in the Legislative Assembly. Thank you.

If all the diamond mines money doesn’t go into the Heritage Fund we should be able to have money for training. One of the priorities for our government working with the diamond mines is to make sure the people of the Northwest Territories know what is available to them and what the mines will do if they hire people in the Northwest Territories to work for them, so that they know what kind of benefits are there and whether the travel will be covered and so on. I think that the best thing for us to do, and the diamond mines management have gone and made tours to all the regions and I think we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One thing we’re trying to do to increase the employment of Northerners in the diamond mines or other mines of the Northwest Territories is to increase the catchment area for workers. By that I mean we are looking at increasing the number of hiring points in the Northwest Territories and also to look at training more Northerners for specific jobs in the mines. So to do that, as I said, we have an MOU with the diamond mines and we’re working very closely with the Mine Training Society and Aurora College.