Robert C. McLeod

A significant body of work was completed by Queen's University which provided the building blocks for the development of guidelines. There are draft guidelines currently under internal review and discussion, and we need to take into account the distribution of decision-making authorities in the NWT between resource management boards and various GNWT and federal departments. It will be incumbent on us to get these guidelines right so that they are accepted, endorsed, and found to be practical and useful by all parties. They must be grounded in operational realities and reflective of the GNWT's...

Absolutely. I see this as a great opportunity for a knowledge-based economy in Inuvik and I think there's plenty of opportunities there. I will work with all the appropriate departments to see if we can come up with plans and options for our young people, because as we all know, our young people nowadays are very tech savvy and they will be able to contribute a lot, and this might be something that would interest a lot of them. I will commit to working with my colleagues to see what we can advance.

Mr. Speaker, because of Inuvik's geographically-gifted location there's a great deal of interest in satellite stations in Inuvik. I had the opportunity to speak to a number of those folks that want to put satellite receiving stations there. It's obviously very high-tech field. I have spoken to the gentleman that was doing the consulting for the GNWT and I had asked him to give us some of the skill sets that may be required for working on the facilities once they're completed, and he was going to get that information back to me, but I see a great opportunity to work with Aurora College to...

Right now, we are doing some work on our land use sustainability. If there are lands that are identified outside city limits and it suits the purpose or it’s for the purpose, then I would assume that they would put in an application. Again, I will have to confirm the actual process, and share it with the Members and committee, the actual process that they would have to go through, the conditions they might have to meet. I will commit to the Member and all Members that I will confirm all that information. I will be pleased to share it with them.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We see that as a valuable opportunity to produce a lot of locally grown food across Northwest Territories. One of the things we would have to do is see the land claims, all land claims settle, so land might be made available for that. Also, we do our land use planning and we need to identify that. We have the Agricultural Strategy, which would help us identify some of the issues that we have to deal with. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The total savings over the two years that we've enacted the freeze it will be approximately $3.8 million. That would include the excluded employees, senior managers, and the deputy ministers.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if the Member is referring to those that are in the public service with Union of Northern Workers, there’s a process that we're going through right through negotiations, and whatever agreement they come up with we will adhere to that.

I take a different view of the progress of the liabilities and financial assurance division. In less than two years, within the department, we have successfully established a new unit that was not contemplated at the time of devolution. This unit has so far managed a significant body of work from Queen's University and commenced work on the policy foundation that will guide them through future operations; supported the GNWT in decision-making on an innovation form of $253-million security for Ekati; completed an initial scoping study of Cantung issues that prepared the GNWT on managing issues...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Lands is less than two years old and the financial liabilities and financial assurance division was added after the creation of the Department of Lands. Turnover and staff departures and difficulty recruiting these highly-specialized positions are just some of the challenges that the organization has faced since start-up. Despite that, we have moved quickly and the director's position now has been filled on an acting basis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

No, I haven't had a conversation with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment yet. But, as I said before, once I get a better understanding of some of the skill sets that might be needed and some of the training courses that we may be able to offer, I will have a conversation with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to see if there's an opportunity for us to consider running some courses that might be beneficial to a number of our students. In my conversations with the folks from DLR in Germany, I had talked to them about the fact that if they can send folks over to...