Joe Handley

Mr. Speaker, I will certainly talk to the Members about that and consider doing a letter which either I would send or could be sent by all Members. This cannot continue to happen, Mr. Speaker. This is why we have to have devolution, because we cannot have these kinds of decisions being made in Ottawa and us finding out after the fact that the decision was made, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, fortunately, Minister Scott is going to be here next week. I think all of us will have an opportunity to speak with him. I certainly will speak with him about the way this was handled. Thank you, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let me say first of all, that the appointment of the chair for either of the boards under the Mackenzie Valley Management Act is the responsibility of the federal government. So, Mr. Speaker, having said that, as I said yesterday, I have communicated my preferences to Minister Scott in the past, I have written a letter to him, and last week I attempted to contact him -- I believe it was on Thursday -- and waited for his call. Yesterday I tried to contact him. I did not get to speak to him. I was told that he's in Edmonton or in Alberta today for the memorial for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I will and I believe there was a recommendation to that effect to bring it back, so it will be brought back. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not going to sing. I’d like to, but I won’t. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to congratulate an aboriginal owned corporation with their offices in Weledeh. This afternoon I was told that because of the efforts of this company, that all communities in the NWT will, by the end of this year, have broadband Internet services.

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Mr. Speaker, the Denendeh Development Corporation is a community champion of the Broadband Business Alliance, and will be signing a contribution agreement with Industry Canada as part of an overall project worth $16.7 million. This...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 20, Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 3, 2004-2005, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I am sure we can, because it is open and…Of course, the communications are through the embassy, but I am sure that they would, at our request, forward these on to other people who may have interest in it as well.

Mr. Speaker, it’s a good tool to use. I think that one drawback that I saw yesterday is that anyone else who wants to log on can also view your dialogue that is taking place. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I can’t speak for the consulate general or for the ambassador and their motivation setting up the virtual consulate. They do, I assume, want to share information and be able to communicate. Mr. Speaker, in my view, we are clearly not part of American foreign policy. We have our own views, our own government and federal government. That is where our interests and our loyalty lie.

Mr. Speaker, we do have issues though, that we must deal with, with our neighbours. Those are issues like climate change, environment and, as the Member has said, caribou migrations and sovereignty and...

Mr. Speaker, I can say that I was very surprised, taken aback; in fact angry, yesterday, when I found out, when it was on the 5:30 news, that CBC had gotten this information before we did, before I did and before anybody in our government did. Mr. Speaker, I don’t know for sure who was involved in the announcement, if it was an announcement made. CBC certainly had it. But I did, as well as calling Minister Scott, call our MP and Minister for Northern Development, Ethel Blondin-Andrew. She called me back this morning and certainly apologized for not letting us know. She explained that she...

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I expect that the recommendations from the committees will be reviewed at the next regular FMB meeting, and either myself or the chair of the Financial Management Board, our Minister of Finance, will certainly apprise the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am just overwhelmed with the gift.

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Mr. Speaker, yes, I will definitely read the document. Thank you.