Brendan Bell

Mr. Speaker, Heritage Canada has invited the provinces and territories to participate at Expo 2005, to be held from March to September 2005 in Aichi, Japan. Aichi Prefecture is about an hour train ride west of Tokyo, near the city of Nagoya. The theme of Expo 2005 is Nature’s Wisdom.

Organizers anticipate that more than 15 million people will visit Expo 2005 over a six-month period and 1.5 million visitors are anticipated to visit the Canadian pavilion with some 90 percent of these visitors expected to be Japanese.

This exposition provides an excellent opportunity to market the Northwest...

Mr. Speaker, we will continue to make the case to the federal government that this is a priority for northerners, and we would acknowledge that although there’s been a lot of good work done by the partners over the past five years and we’re in the fifth year of implementation, we have yet to protect a single area. There are interim areas, there are areas that have been identified for protection, but we haven’t, in fact, done this and we see this as, to date, a failing of the work of both our government and the federal government and the ENGOs. So obviously we have to move forward clearly. We...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We continue to make the case to our federal counterparts that this is a priority and we believe support for development initiatives up and down the valley will hinge on federal support for PAS. I think that’s true. You’ve seen quite a bit of lobbying from ENGOs who believe the federal government has to do more in this regard. So between ourselves and the ENGOs, we continue to press the case to the federal Ministers responsible that this is indeed a priority and this is something that needs to be addressed right now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have to admit I don’t know the hours that the officers are keeping in terms of monitoring and enforcement out on the Ingraham Trail. That is certainly some information that I can get and bring back to the Member. I guess the other point I would make is that we do see this as a priority, and obviously we are having discussion as a government and discussion with committee on an ongoing basis through the business planning process, and the issue of wildlife officers is very similar to environmental protection officers. We know we need more of them. It’s simply a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We believe that Miramar is out of compliance with their water licence because of the delays and, as a member of the working group, we were involved, obviously, when the chairperson of that group wrote a letter to Miramar Con Mine to advise them that they were in fact, in our minds, out of compliance with their water licence by not meeting the deadlines. We are waiting for a response from the company, but obviously we see it as being of paramount importance that we get some progress here, and are waiting for Miramar to respond. Thank you.

Thank you, we are discussing all of those issues and we do, in our minds, have a financial bottom line. I don’t want to disclose that here, obviously. We are negotiating these issues with the federal government, but clearly we see, by and large, a federal responsibility. Obviously, underground is entirely a federal responsibility, they have been the mining regulator of record for the life of that mine. On the surface there is some debate. We want to move this forward quickly. DIAND is proposing to come forward with a project description and an A and R plan. I think they will do that...

This season, Aurora viewing companies are expecting 11,000 visitors, a 10 percent increase over the number that visited last year.

Mr. Speaker, I will co-chair an oversight review committee with my colleague, the Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Jane Groenewegen, to oversee planning for the Northwest Territories participation at Expo 2005.

Currently, work is underway to prepare for our participation in this important event. We intend to highlight all aspects of the Northwest Territories, with specific focus on tourism, diamonds, culture and the arts. We are also very interested in working with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hope I got the nature of the question. The PAS is, in fact, grassroots driven. It’s really up to communities to identify areas that they think are culturally sensitive or natural or cultural areas that they feel are special and indeed need protection. So we rely on communities to identify those and then the various partners in the PAS all combine to make sure that those areas are, in fact, protected from future development. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member has indicated, the filing of the EIS is another important milestone for the pipeline project, and we’ve always said that it is important and this is why we support the Protected Areas Strategy currently, financially and in support to the secretariat. But it’s important to have protected areas established and we’re working toward doing that. This is a three-way partnership with some ENGOs and the federal government. We are trying to find the money in our government to fund our portion of the Protected Areas Strategy -- I think it’s $1.5 million over five...

Thank you. The proposal was received from the Fort Smith Metis Council prior to signing, obviously, the contribution agreement. The funding request was to be used to purchase snowmobiles, ATVs, outboard motors, boats and various equipment required to help harvesters. Thank you.