Robert C. McLeod

As I mentioned, the project team is working towards finalizing the report and anticipate this will be done in 2019 and shared publicly. We do not foresee this work resulting in any delays in the water licensing process. Again, we have a significant interest in this particular project, so I will work with Members of this Assembly to ensure that the interests of the Northwest Territories and the City of Yellowknife are taken into consideration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In regard to measure 6, a draft report was developed in 2017. The project team presented this draft to the Giant Mine working group, and members had outstanding concerns. As a result, a consultant was hired to further develop the report. The project team is working towards finalizing the report and anticipate that this will be complete in 2019 and shared publicly.

The summer student program is one that we promote and we are quite proud of. Last year, I think we had some of the best numbers we have had in the past. The year before, I think we had some very good numbers. I can say that, as of today, we have a total of 247 students who have been hired and job offers pending for another 36, as well, we also know of 21 students who have been hired from our student listing by other organizations, such as NTPC, the LHO, and some with the federal government. So I think we are in a good position to hopefully equal or eclipse last year's number. As far as the P1...

I can commit. We are always trying to have a look at our programs to see what's working and what needs to be improved. Under the program, we had up to four Aboriginal Indigenous employees who were targeted each year. With the new Indigenous management development program introduced in October of 2018, we already have seven Aboriginals enrolled in the program. The desired intake for that is actually 15, so there is a bit more uptake on that, and we are looking forward to seeing the results of this particular program.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I share the Member's concern with the amount of alcohol that is sold across the Northwest Territories, consumed across the Northwest Territories. We all know in this Chamber that, of all the things that have ever been brought into the Northwest Territories and distributed amongst our people, alcohol is probably the one that has done the most damage. I think we need to find ways that we can deal with it. However, there have been situations in the past where they have tried to ration the sale of alcohol. I think those were reversed, but, if there are opportunities for us...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my right, I have Mr. David Stewart, the deputy minister of the Department of Finance. To my left, I have Laura Jeffrey, legal counsel for the Department of Justice. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am here to present Bill 26, Statistics Act.

The Northwest Territories is the only jurisdiction in Canada which currently does not have statistics legislation that establishes a legal framework for the collection, protection, and dissemination of statistical information.

The purpose of the legislation is to establish a new Statistics Act for the Northwest Territories that will establish the roles and responsibilities of the Bureau of Statistics; outline data collection, analysis, and data dissemination procedures; describe methods to ensure the confidentiality of...

I think that, in the past budget that we just approved, we did put some money into enhancing the Boots on the Ground Program. I think that it is a great program. I think that we put some money in to enhance that. I do believe, with our conversations with our counterparts over in Nunavut, that we will take some steps to help try and protect the Bathurst caribou herd. This was an initial meeting setting a path forward, and I am not sure if they have had these meetings before. We did share with them our concerns and the concerns from the Aboriginal leadership on this side of the border about the...

I thought it was a very positive and productive meeting that we had, and we did come up with an agreement to enhance our caribou research monitoring and management actions. Again, there was recognition of the leadership shown by the Tlicho government on the issue.

This was a fairly high-level political leaders' meeting, along with our technical staff. We had some good discussions on the calving ground, our concern that the calving grounds are in Nunavut, and maybe they didn't have the same regulations or restrictions that we had. They understood that, and they have committed to have a...

Again, we will work with the project team to try and mitigate as much as possible access and that to the residents who use the site. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.