Bob McLeod

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Glen Abernethy will be absent from the House today and tomorrow due to a personal matter.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think the problem is a difference in opinion. When we first started with Single Window Service Centres, it was for small, isolated communities, not for the capital city and not for regional centres. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On the larger ones, my assessment is that, probably, the one that we are making the most progress on is the Akaitcho. The NWT Metis Nation have put their negotiations on hold for the next couple of months until the new fiscal year. The Dehcho have determined that, instead of focusing on the land and resource development side, they are going to focus on self-government. Acho Dene Koe have a new negotiating team and advisors, and they are revisiting their negotiated-since mandates.

I think that we still can expect a lot of success in self-government agreements. Up and down...

Thank you. We responded to committee by letter on February 11th. That is our approach to dealing with this. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Not that we are aware of, Mr. Chair. My understanding is that money is a constant issue in negotiations, and everybody could always use more money, I am sure. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess the original idea for service officers was to help serve the most remote, isolated communities. Detah is, I guess, in the wintertime it's five minutes away, so I expect that, at some point, if resources are available, we would look at it. Detah is only five minutes away from all of the government services in Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes. Generally, the overages have been picked up by the departments which, in some cases, could possibly impact on delivering programs and services. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Yes, in this case, it was viewed as a one-off, and it was strongly suggested to us that we shouldn't be providing one-offs, so in future our expectation is it will be dealt with through the main project funding. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

That is correct, as well as government promotions in different sectors. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, that was for a two-year period, and that will sunset this year.