Joe Handley

Mr. Speaker, I have consistently said that I believe that we can achieve an agreement-in-principle within four months. Whether it’s the end of February, end of March, I don’t know. But somewhere before our new fiscal year we need to know where we stand financially. My reason for choosing that is we’re starting a new fiscal year with a situation that I said in my sessional statement that is just not sustainable. We cannot keep up with the needs with the current amount of money that we have.

Mr. Speaker, I believe four months is lots of time for the federal negotiator Harvie Andre to get up to...

Mr. Speaker, I will give that assurance but, at the same time, I want to discuss this further with the officials in ENR. But I don’t know of any reason why we would not be able to achieve what the Member is requesting. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly, the proposed conference includes participants far broader than just the GNWT. Mr. Speaker, it will include co-management boards, aboriginal governments, outfitters, resident hunting organizations, Nunavut, Yukon, Saskatchewan, Dene Nation, regulatory boards, of course GNWT departments, people from ITI, Education, Social Services and so on, industry people and NGOs, caribou management boards, and Members of the Legislative Assembly will be invited. So we are keeping it as broad as we can. We are probably looking at 100 to 150 delegates and our intention is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are always aware of the difficulty people have in accessing caribou meat, where they depend on it. The most immediate thing we can do in the short term, of course, is to ensure that our income support offices are aware of the situation, are able to take that into consideration when they make allocations to people. Mr. Speaker, I know that it is difficult. It is more than just an income issue. It is also an issue of wanting to have the wild meat that people have a desire for. Mr. Speaker, over time we will work it out, but in the short term, in...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I also want to express my appreciation and respect for the work that the commission members did in making their recommendations.

Madam Chair, in looking at this issue I've talked to many of my constituents and I've also thought long and hard about this issue. There are three main issues that I took into consideration. First of all, how many people can we represent? I had to look at some of the provinces and the federal government, the size of constituencies, and I have to say that the number of people that each of us represent, whether it's in Yellowknife or in some...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, that’s possible. We’re well into our business planning. This would require new money, as Members know, but if there was a consensus here, or a majority of people agreed, then certainly we would look at that. We’ve looked at it, but we also have to recognize our fiscal situation. It may have to be somewhat limited or modest, but we’re certainly not opposed to that kind of support. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I agree that we can’t just advertise and urge people to cut down on their energy consumption. That is important. I think the work of the Arctic Energy Alliance is good in that one. We do have to look at some more specific ways of helping people in the North to reduce their cost of living and to make their homes more energy efficient. Mr. Speaker, as we go through our budget planning process in preparing for each budget, there is opportunity for Members to have input, and certainly if the Members in this House are ready to support us, then we would look seriously at...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member’s advice. Mr. Speaker, we will have to talk with ECE. Our people are already doing that. We will be talking with ITI with regard to meat replacement. We will be talking with other departments as well because it does involve, in fact, departments like Health and Social Services. Mr. Speaker, we are hosting a caribou summit this winter. We are hosting workshops I think as early as November on hardships associated with the declining number of caribou. So those are all efforts that are being made. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, we don’t have any exact numbers of what resources would be necessary and what special efforts would have to be made. We are looking for information from all of the regional management bodies. Hopefully, we can deal with it with their advice. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly we would and we would look for advice from the Members as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.