Louis Sebert

No, I have no idea what the demand might be, but I have heard that it may be considerable. We have not yet entered into any sort of an agreement, or even contemplated agreements yet with possible suppliers who, of course, must be licensed by the federal government.

We're always pleased to appear in front of committee. Of course, Members will know that the Power Corporation doesn't fall under normal business plans as it's overseen by the Public Utilities Board, so that's where they appear in front of, but to provide more information with respect to these or other matters, I'd always be very happy to appear in front of committee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I mentioned, we are hoping still to get delivery of the three of five generators. With respect to legal action, we understand from our counsel in California that that would be exceedingly complex if we had to take that route; there may be other parties that could have priority. We are still hoping to get delivery of these generators. As I say, we are hoping to get at least three of the five in the near future. If we don't get those and we cannot pursue legal action in the State of California, which as I say may be very, very difficult, we will have to re-tender.

Yes, as the lease agreements mature or come to an end, Lands is placing them in an overholding status until the issues are addressed. Now what that means practically is that the lease continues under the original lease clauses with an overholding status. We will not be entering into any new equity leases; those are a thing of the past, but we believe that this will not prejudice the current holders.

Mr. Speaker, when I first took over this file I had thought that there would not be many equity leases out there, but unfortunately there are a great number. I can advise that there are actually 243 equity leases spread throughout all five regions of the Northwest Territories; they are all on Commissioner's land.

In the coming weeks my department will be bringing forward options for me to consider. I will bring those to Cabinet for consideration and then to the Members for further discussion as appropriate. We certainly do recognize this is a very important issue for many leaseholders...

The Department of Infrastructure is working with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to identify gaps in knowledge and opportunities with respect to caribou population along the proposed corridor, so it's not as though we are in any way ignoring this very important issue; and I realize that this is a complex issue.

I want to repeat, however, that we are concerned about the issue of this caribou herd and that any of our planning will take into account the grave concerns that we've heard about the diminution of the numbers of this caribou herd that travels between Nunavut and...

The government supports the Government of Nunavut and the Kitikmeot Inuit Association's recommendation that further environmental review of the project would be valuable, and recommends that the federal government provide participant funding for any such review.

The Government of Nunavut and the Kitikmeot Inuit Association are, of course, the proponents. The GNWT recognizes the potential transboundary economic benefits associated with infrastructure corridors such as the Grays Bay road and port and supports strategic infrastructure developments such as this project.

We heard earlier today that...

Mr. Speaker, it is our intention that all leaseholders will be treated fairly. I think it's important to realize that not all of these equity leases are identical, so it's going to require a lot of work to go through them one by one, but as I mentioned at the outset we are intending to resolve this matter by treating leaseholders fairly and properly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Certainly, initially what we'll have to do is determine how we are going to be proceeding with the resolution of the equity lease problem. We're hoping to have an overall comprehensive plan that will resolve this very difficult issue. We are going through the process right now and any positions conditionally approved through the forced growth or initiative process will be defended through committee reviews of the 2018-2019 business plans in November and defended through the main estimates process. The first step really in this procedure will be to determine where we're going with this very...

Mr. Speaker, our residents have demonstrated that cannabis is an important issue for them. Since I last spoke of the legalization of cannabis in May, our government has been hard at work undertaking an extensive engagement program with the public and stakeholders to make sure we understand the views of Northerners.

Our engagement, which formally began in July, has included public meetings in regional centres and select small communities. Seven public meetings have been held to date, with two more scheduled for today and tomorrow in Hay River and Behchoko. An online survey has also been made...