Robert C. McLeod

I am aware that a study that was on mercury and other metals on large-bodied fish was conducted in the Yellowknife region was funded by the Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program and Polar Knowledge Canada. It was initiated in March of 2016. The lakes that they actually sampled were Kam Lake, Grace Lake, Long Lake, and Martin Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Welcome to all of those in the gallery today.

Mr. Speaker, there is a tradition of Finance Ministers in Canada wearing new shoes when delivering the budget address as a direction described in the annual budget. Today, I am wearing my mukluks. I do this as a reminder to myself of where we come from and the importance of the work we do for residents in all communities, large and small, throughout the Northwest Territories.

A budget address not only describes important activities that the government is investing in the upcoming fiscal year, but also how we will manage the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Main Estimates, 2017-2018 Government of the Northwest Territories." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We are trying to get the feds to have a look at who would be responsible for the remediation as a lot of this happened before it was turned over to the Northwest Territories. We'll follow up with the federal government to see where they're at with it, and I will share the information with the Member.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. ENR is not aware of any environmental assessment that was conducted on Kam Lake and Grace Lake. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following five documents entitled "Followup Letter to Oral Question 7218(2): Supporting Small Businesses with Government of the Northwest Territories Contracting Policies;" "Followup Letter to Oral Question 31918(2): Promotion and Protection of Traditional Lifestyles;" "Followup Letter to Oral Question 34918(2): Northern Transportation Company Limited Employee Pension Plan and Severance Payments;" "Followup Letter to Oral Question 42318(2): Programs to Support Traditional Economy;" and "Followup Letter to Oral Question 45518(2)...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that I will deliver the budget address on Wednesday, February 1, 2017. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As far as splitting it out, the legislation is all connected. So we can do it quickly or we can do it right, and we want to make sure that we do this right. We will come forward to committee with an LP probably by about the third year of this Assembly, and they will have an opportunity to review it and we'll go forward from there.

If the Member is concerned about the safe disclosure, my understanding is there is a Safe Disclosure Policy that was done, I think, in concern with the UNW, so that is there. So we'll continue to work on the LP, and when we have it ready to go then we will have a...

It's a massive piece of legislation, and we can expect to see that, the LP, during the third quarter of the 18th Assembly.

Mr. Speaker, we do have a P3 policy that's readily available online. We might have to make it a little more accessible or put it right on the front page, because sometimes you have to navigate your way through the system to get at number of these policies. So we'll ensure that the policy itself is readily available if people want to have a look at it. But I think their big concern is not so much the policy, but the fact that this government wants to stretch our investments out a little further, get more projects for the communities across the Northwest Territories, because a lot of these...