Bob McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated publically, I was informed of the ban on drilling in Arctic waters by the Prime Minister two hours before he made the announcement in Vancouver. This was a couple weeks ago. At that time, I expressed my concerns and I have since written to the Prime Minister reiterating the Government of Northwest Territories' position that it is imperative that our government be involved in decisions that affect our people in the Northwest Territories. We must be able to give our residents hope for a brighter economic future.

The Prime Minister assured me that he knows...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Glen Abernethy will be absent from the House for the remainder of this week to attend the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Ministers of Social Services meetings in Toronto, Ontario. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I said in my sessional statement, this government is all about economic diversification. If there are other sectors that create approximately 2,500 jobs in the Northwest Territories and they have conferences, I'll make sure that all of our Cabinet attends those conferences.

Right now, the perception is that the Northwest Territories is not open for business. We need to change that and improve the Northwest Territories' investment climate, and that's why it was important for Cabinet to attend Roundup in Vancouver. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Roundup has always been a priority for our government, and especially since devolution. Our government has been attending Roundup for probably the past 20 years, so I don't think it's a surprise that we attended this year. The cost for our participation in the Roundup events and the trade show have consistently averaged around $80,000 a year. This year was no exception.

This year's event saw increased travel costs related to the attendance of Cabinet and our support of Aboriginal government participation. This extra investment must be considered in the context of returns to our territory, the...

All the Aboriginal governments in the Beaufort were unanimous in their condemnation at the lack of consultation with regard to a moratorium in the Beaufort Delta on oil and gas.

I had an opportunity to meet with the Inuvialuit Regional Council president in Vancouver. We agreed to meet on a regular basis, and we all agreed that the federal government must consult with both ourselves and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and the Gwich'in Tribal Council with regards to proposed development of any changes to oil and gas policies in the Beaufort.

Officials in our government and IRC are working...

At this time, the federal government has given us no indication that they intend to reconsider their decision to ban offshore drilling in the Arctic. The federal government has committed to a five-year scientific review of this decision; however, they have not provided any information about what that review will entail. I'll be following up with Prime Minister Trudeau at every opportunity to ensure that the Government of the Northwest Territories is involved in any review and that traditional knowledge is a key feature of that review.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize a constituent of Yellowknife South, Magnolia Unka, daughter of Tommy Unka. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At some point early on in the life of this government I made the point that we were hoping to settle all the land claims in the life of the 18th Assembly, and, certainly, my expectation is that we will make very good progress.

I strongly believe that the report of the ministerial special representatives will advance progress significantly. We had very good meetings with the grand chief of the Dehcho First Nation at roundup in Vancouver. We are both very optimistic, and we're all prepared to work very hard to move this file forward significantly. We've had discussions...

The ministerial special representatives that were appointed by myself and the Minister of Indigenous Affairs for Canada have been working very hard in both the Deh Cho, MSR had met with all of the leadership and has gone to every community and I think has also had a final round of meetings. Similarly with the MSR for the South Slave has undertaken all of those discussions, and I fully expect that final reports will be brought forward within the next couple of weeks, certainly before the end of February and also I understand some initial drafts have been shared with some technical experts for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Through you, I'd like to redirect this question to the Government House Leader, Minister Abernethy.