Brendan Bell

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We can do that. We can certainly engage the regions in this discussion with communities. I think the first thing we can and will do is, in fact, confirm what the Member is suggesting, that there are increased incidents and run-ins of people with grizzly bears. I think that’s the first step. But even if we find that there isn’t a dramatic increase, I think it’s always a good practice to sit down and talk about safety and safe practices when out on the land. Obviously, when you go out into bear country there are a number of steps that you need to take to make sure you’re...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let me first say, Mr. Speaker, that it was a very unfortunate incident that happened recently at the Colomac mine site, and very unfortunate that two people were injured. Although it’s not the first time this has ever happened, I would say injuries of this nature and these encounters are still relatively rare. Not to say that they don’t happen, and many times when they do happen it’s a very bad outcome.

The Member, in his statement, pointed out that we are involved and responsible for the protection of wildlife, but I would say that the department is very active in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. They are onside with that principle. As the Member knows, they made a number of commitments in this regard through the environmental process. I can assure the Member that those commitments are going to be lived up to and the CEAA will speak to that and does speak to that. The other point I would make is that I don’t believe the De Beers board has made a final construction decision on the Snap Lake mine yet. We hope that’s to come in the coming months and I think that will be a very significant event when and if we have that behind us. I assume that we will; I’m looking...

Mr. Speaker, thank you. Obviously, we think this is an industry with a lot of promise. It’s come a long way. I think it’s important to remember that this industry in Canada, never mind the Northwest Territories and North America, is truly in its infancy. It’s not many years now since the production began at the Ekati mine. Diavik followed. So we knew that there would be bumps in the road here. We think we have a sustainable industry. We think the factories that are operating now are doing a very good job. We do acknowledge that it is very competitive. We are dealing with labour, and the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll certainly report back the next time we sit and I can give the Member a progress update. Unfortunately, we won’t be sitting in a month’s time, but after Christmas I can certainly provide that update. Mr. Speaker, it’s important for us to recognize that when we talk about the uranium transportation route, there are other sites where uranium product was transferred. Those sites are also a concern to us. We’re concerned about the soils near Sawmill Bay, Bennett Landing and Tulita; we’ve mentioned that. Also at Fort Smith. So there are a number of sites that the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I will. Support to the traditional economy and for the traditional economy is very important for this department. We’ll have continued discussions with committee about how we can continue to raise the profile of trapping. I think it’s very important, and I agree with the Member that if a generation loses their trapping skills, it would be very difficult to get them back. We have to do what we can to make sure the people who want to live this lifestyle can do so. Mr. Speaker, obviously it’s not an easy living. I think we recognize that. This is very...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This agreement is very important for us and it was signed a number of years ago by the Prime Minister. The European Union was concerned, or said they had concerns with our humane trapping standards. We agreed that we would fund research as a country to ensure that we were doing the most we possibly could to find the most humane methods of trapping, and this Vegreville facility was where that work and research was done. Without the continued funding of this facility and in effect without us complying with the agreement, we were in real danger of having the EU step in...

Thank you. I can certainly work with committee to do that. One of the unknowns here is how successful we’ll be at recycling. There is a cost to setting up this program and I suppose if we do a very poor job of recycling, then that program cost will be paid off much more quickly. If we really take up this recycling ethic in earnest, then it will be over a longer period of time. I hope that we do take that up, and certainly we’ll work with committee so we can analyze this and discuss, in fact, how well it’s progressing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think we’ve determined that it would be cost-prohibitive to set up what we’re going to set up in the regions, these processing centres in every community across the North. I think what we’ve decided to do is establish community depots that will feed into the regional processing centres. It’s our intention that all communities will have community depots; whether they’ll all be up and running by the time this program is rolled out on April 1st, I’m not sure. A lot will depend on the proposals we get back as we go out now with an expression for that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Wednesday, October 20, 2004, I will move that Bill 16, Northwest Territories Business Development and Investment Corporation Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.