Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to rise on a point of order under clause 23(k) with regard to the use of insulting and abusive language and (l) speaking disrespectfully of Her Majesty, any member of the Royal Family, his Excellency the Governor General, the Commissioner, the Assembly or any Member.

I rise on that point, Mr. Speaker, because I listened with great interest and intensity to the exchange between Mr. Hawkins and Minister Beaulieu yesterday. I listened carefully to the volume, tone and content of the exchange. I am of the opinion that when you look at those three items with the type...

Our focus has been to put our resources not into those types of tax cuts or credits but to look at putting training programs in place that we can be there to assist communities, individuals and businesses so that they actually have some place to go. So it’s just not a credit but more of a structure, a bigger critical mass that allows us to provide a broader range of service across the North.

As a government, we haven’t raised income tax, corporate taxes, business taxes for well over a decade, and we intend to hold the line on that as well. We have been working very hard not to increase the cost to do business. The tax rate in the Northwest Territories is 4 percent, and that’s worth about $4 million a year. The issue, as we’ve heard in this House as we debate things like capital and the lack of revenue, that if we’re going to consider any kind of revenue offsets lost because of tax cuts, we have to, before we do that, anticipate where we’re going to get that replacement revenue or...

Thank you. As we’ve done our work, first with the Water Strategy – Northern Voices, Northern Water – we have, at every step of the way, worked with the Aboriginal governments. We have an Aboriginal Steering Committee with representatives from the Aboriginal governments that have been working with us both in the development of the Water Strategy as well as being involved in the negotiations and providing oversight on that very complex process.

The Alberta agreement, which is nearing completion, there will be about a 90 percent similarity between the key points and elements that are being...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Back in 1997 there was a transboundary master agreement signed between a number of jurisdictions: the federal government, the territorial government, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia and the Yukon. One of the conditions in that agreement was that there were supposed to be bilaterals negotiated between all of the jurisdictions. We are hard at work and very close to completing our negotiations with Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C.

The only bilateral that exists is the one between us and the Yukon government, and I’ve been in recent discussions with the Minister of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of course, we’ll work with committee and this House to provide all the necessary numbers we require to make the most informed decisions in terms of the costs and benefits and the risk and rewards for the work in the Sahtu. The numbers and the requests the Member has made will be factored into that information that is going to be pulled together as we move forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Very clearly, this government is aware of the impact of climate change. We’re aware of all reports done by the IPCC. There is no debate from us whether those findings are valid or not. We’re spending millions and millions of dollars as a government to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change and global warming and we will continue to make those substantial investments as we balance a whole list of competing needs. Definitely there’s no debate on this side of the House on whether their findings are valid or not. Thank you.

In addition to the people and the resources we already have on the ground, we are also, as part of our community based water monitoring strategy that we’re rolling out across the North, putting in that capacity and working with communities to have that capacity both in terms of the equipment to do the monitoring as well as the ability to use the equipment that is being put in. We’re looking at making sure all those pieces are linked.

One of the things that is happening with devolution is we are setting up a lands department, and one of the ideas and plans with the lands department is between the lands department, ITI and ENR we will be able to form a development assessment component or process that will allow us to provide the oversight and proper input in all those areas. Of course, in this case we’re working with exploration. As exploration is done and if it proves out, clearly we will be moving ahead with that process, with tour discussion with the Sahtu members, the people in the Sahtu, the various environmental...

That issue has been raised by the Member already. I believe the Minister of ITI indicated we are prepared to make sure we have the type of workshops that are balanced and reflect not only the possibilities in terms of economic development but the risks we have to manage and the challenges that are associated with that and the obligations we have. As the Minister of ITI said repeatedly, we have to work together to balance. So that work is underway. Thank you.