Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the Member is looking for the amount of money owed to the government, or the BCC specifically, from this company. I am unable, because of our legislation, to give the Member the number. The Member will remember we have had many past discussions about the need to balance the privacy and the protection of proprietary interest with the need for the public to know. This is a difficult balance. I think it is a discussion that we'll continue to have going forward. I look forward to that discussion, but without the agreement of the parties involved, I can't...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I assure the Member that I don't consider his questioning a running record. I understand that this is very important to his community. He has made that point abundantly clear to me and to the public, I believe. I also understand the urgency and understand the cultural implications here and the willingness to not be seen to be wasting any meat in the community. I appreciate that and respect that. Last night, after the discussion in the House, I asked the department to sit down and come up with a proposed solution to this. What we're prepared to do, Mr. Speaker, is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's difficult for me, without the Cabinet endorsement of said proposal, to theoretically discuss and indicate exactly what that will include. No doubt, it will include a range of options and a range of suggestions. We have had some discussion in the past about our legislation being as open as possible, as transparent as possible. I have no doubt that that discussion will take place again and we will have that committee. Certainly I will indicate to the Members on the other side of the House that I will take their recommendations in this regard very seriously. So...

Thank you. In terms of negative impacts on the people of the Northwest Territories, obviously we want to mitigate those wherever possible. I can assure the Member that I’m sitting down with my colleagues, the Minister responsible for the social envelope, to first identify what those potential impacts are, and we have some I would say track record now. We can take a look at our experience with the course of the last couple of mines. I think we need to learn from that. We need to understand where the challenges are, and where there are potential impacts seek to mitigate them. There...

I think philosophically we are talking about, Mr. Speaker, the same idea. We’ve been working to negotiate a protocol agreement with the producers group. That protocol agreement would be an umbrella agreement that would spell out the number of sub-agreements that come under it. I think there are -- I am going to guess between nine and 15 -- one of those agreements would be the socioeconomic agreement, and we’ve also had discussions about the length of time it has been taking to get the protocol agreement finalized. We are in discussions with the producers group and at the same time moving...

Mr. Speaker, again, I can’t provide that assurance. In the past it has been a $12,000 contribution, it has been cost shared, a shared responsibility with the city. The proposal this year from our government, recognizing that costs have indeed gone up, was to increase that to $15,000, recognizing that it should still be on a cost-shared basis. The city countered with full cost recovery only, turned down the $15,000 offer, wanted the $21,000 in full cost recoveries. So I can’t guarantee that we’ll come to a contractual arrangement, but I will guarantee that I will sit down and speak with the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of course, we didn’t have life-guarding services last year. The contract notwithstanding, the city was unable to find people to do the life-guarding. Obviously it would be nice if there were lifeguards at all our NWT parks that are on water. I believe there are about 15 of them across the territory. I don’t believe there are any lifeguards at any others, unless there are municipalities providing that service. I can indicate to the Member that I have called the mayor’s office to discuss this matter. We have been playing phone tag. I do look forward to sitting down and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to advise Members that the diamond capital of North America is hosting a national diamond round table this week.

As many of you know, more than 100 delegates, representing the diamond industry, government and other stakeholders, are meeting in Yellowknife for two days this week to put the final touches on reports that play an integral part in the development of a national diamond strategy.

As Members are aware, Canada's provincial and Territorial Premiers have unanimously agreed to develop a national diamond strategy to ensure that this country...

Mr. Speaker, that’s an interesting question and I would say and restate that I am certainly wiling to come to the Member’s riding and sit down and better understand the needs of the community as it relates to this piece of infrastructure. We can talk about what it actually costs to run. I would like to see it. Obviously we have concerns about the health risk. We have talked in past about liability. Internally in the department we have had discussions about that. That is becoming more and more of a concern for public governments. I know our Department of Finance risk management division have...

Thank you. The Member is certainly right; we have monitoring obligations. We have obligations that are shared with BHP and with Diavik, and we will with DeBeers, as well. We are proposing to set up a joint monitoring board under the terms of the new agreement, and have done likewise in some of the past agreements. I think the Member is making the point that we need to be vigilant in monitoring. I agree with the Member. We have to ensure that the commitments being made, and that we spent so much time negotiating, are being lived up to. Obviously we have an obligation in that regard, and...