Brendan Bell

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We can certainly provide updates. We do have a working group with the RCMP and Justice officials talking about the provision of service to small communities. There are, I think, 13 communities in the NWT without detachments. The Member is right; the days of single-officer detachments are gone, so we have to be more creative and look at ways that we can provide service to some of our smaller communities. Probably the smallest ones we will be hard pressed to ever see detachments, or for awhile anyway, because of cost pressures in the smallest detachments. But I...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I think even probably before we start talking about the federal government, I'd be interested in making sure hunters and trappers are involved in this discussion because this is part of their livelihood and I think very important for them. DOT does plan to sit down with MACA; I mentioned that. They are going to bring in the RCMP, municipal enforcement, coroner's office, the chief medical officer, other snowmobile associations. They think they can have this group up and running by the end of the month, or next month. If we need the federal government involved...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, there are already laws on the roads and there are laws in municipalities. Enforcement, obviously, is a problem, very difficult, and there are more and more snow machines out there. So it's something that we can have some discussion around. But the Member is right; it crosses a number of jurisdictions: ours and municipal. I think the most important thing is to get out there and make sure people recognize the dangers. I'm not sure especially young people have a good sense of exactly how powerful these machines are and how much at risk they can be when they're...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, different communities have different crime rates. How active community justice committees are really does tend to depend on the willingness of the community, the local RCMP to divert to these community justice committees. I think the community has to be comfortable with that approach. You mentioned the YCJA and the new philosophy. In the transition from the old Young Offenders Act, that has played an important role. But, Mr. Speaker, I am not suggesting that keeping our facilities adequate and up to date reduces the crime rate, but it is part of the overall...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the question from the Member. Of course, yes, I will take the leadership of bringing these two companies together. We’ll sit down with the top leadership in the mine to better understand their feelings of how this arrangement is working. I should mention that in Antwerp, of course, core customers get an allocation of rough. Again, they have no choice but to take all of it and have to pay cash right now. I think the mines have been very agreeable to the idea that this was an industry in its infancy. They have held parcels, sometimes for quite long periods of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m hoping that the issue and the concern can be resolved immediately. I’ve asked the cutting and polishing factory group of owners to provide the information that they have that they feel suggests they are being overcharged, provide the company in question with that information, copy me with the information so that I can see it as well, bring the two parties together and have this discussion. I think it’s important that this has been lingering for some time without anybody having a real concrete understanding, just a feeling that they were not being treated fairly. So...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are looking to get to the bottom of the issue. The Ministers prior to myself have had the same concern raised and have sought to address it. One of the difficulties is that it’s not as if this is a commodity traded on the open market and we can see the pricing arrangements made with various customers. The mines have customers overseas that they term core customers. They have private arrangements made with those customers. We are not sure how much the diamonds are sold to those customers for, so it’s very difficult for us to make a determination around what kind...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is right; the concern here is around pricing. The factory, of course, would like additional rough. Everybody would like additional rough, but I think they understand that the rough being provided is what was agreed to and it really does come down to the pricing. I think the issue of core customer pricing with core customer status has some requirements, as well. You don’t have the choice of turning back rough or rejecting it. You have to take all of the rough allocated to you. That is not the case with the factories here. They are able to go through the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe the problem is an allegation of premium being charged to one of our companies over and above the price that Antwerp customers can pay. Of course, these diamonds are very easy and cheap to move to another location, so it’s not as if it’s onerous transportation costs that would lead to a higher price having to be charged in Antwerp. We are looking at it. It’s hypothetical at this point as to what we might do if we are not able to resolve it. I do think we will be able to sit down with the company and talk this through and get some better understanding if a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is right that I, along with the Minister of Finance, met with the owners of Arslanian and Polar Bear factories to have this discussion. The allegations they have raised are concerning for us, so we have asked them to provide us with some documentation and that is something that we can then take to the company to have this discussion. I should point out the factory seems concerned only with one of the mines. I don’t want to make the suggestion that it is all producers. We do have MOUs in place with both mines. Under the terms of our socio-economic...