Bob McLeod

The main thing that’s holding up the establishment of the park is the transfer of lands from the federal government to the territorial government. Those lands are such that a significant amount of work has to be done to clean up some of the environmental issues associated with this park. So we have been working with the Sahtu people and the federal government to clean up some of the areas. So until such time as the land is transferred, it’s very difficult for us to make the transfer or the establishment of the park proceed faster. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The most important consideration in establishing a territorial park would be to have community support and the community would identify the area for consideration. On our part, we would then undertake serious consultations with all affected stakeholders and certainly we would review our NWT Parks Act to see which category would best fit to meet the community’s request. We would also have to have Government of the Northwest Territories departments review it. Once we got closer to actual establishment, we would need a park management plan. We would probably need an Order...

The Member is getting into the areas of enforcement. Certainly we have to make sure that we are well within our authority to do that. As I said, the land in question is currently under the ownership of the federal government and the Sahtu aboriginal governments. This is something that we would probably have to make sure that we are well within our authority to do if we were to intercede with anybody who was enjoying their normal public use of the lands. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As the Member knows, the whole trail is under the auspices of the federal government. It is federal land. It is under their control, but, nevertheless, we as a government will be spending funds to put up proper signage to make sure that all members of the public that enter into this area are aware of who owns the land. Also, I understand, the first 18 kilometres is Sahtu lands that have been selected by the Sahtu governments. We are also holding meetings with the Sahtu beneficiaries. We will be holding workshops to make sure everybody understands the importance of protecting the land. Thank...

As we indicated earlier at the start of this process, we are working very closely with all Members of this House. We will come forward when we have had full opportunity to receive the recommendations and review them fully. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am pleased to announce that my colleague the Minister of Environment and myself have had the opportunity to meet with some of the businesses that operate on a territorial-wide basis, particularly of how we could use commercial subsidies that have been identified to help reduce the cost of goods for businesses that are operating not only in the Sahtu, but throughout the North. So this is an area that we are still working on, and certainly most of the businesses were very eager to work with us and to find ways to not only to reduce costs of the products they sold, but to make their businesses...

We are looking at the priority lists, because affirmative action covers a number of different areas which deem to be priorities in the hiring of this government. Certainly it includes not only affirmative action employees, but also women in the workforce, all hard-to-hire areas and people with disabilities, and they’re broken up into different categories and we are looking at it to see if there are ways to make it more effective in our hiring practices. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When those developments happen in the Northwest Territories, we will certainly make sure that the benefits to the people of the Northwest Territories are maximized. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We are having the committee work with each of the regions and we are expecting that they will come forward with some recommendations in approximately six months or so.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The reason there is no IBA agreements is the project hasn’t advanced to that stage yet. It’s still under development and both Mactung and Selwyn are being very careful to make sure that they stay on the Yukon side. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.