Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recognizing that as an ongoing issue between the aboriginal governments and our territorial government still requires us to form some form of partnership arrangements with our aboriginal governments in support of trying to introduce taxation that would be beneficial to our residents. I’m asking again, why is it such a difficulty to see if they would support such an initiative that would be very cost beneficial to our territory? I’m going to ask the Minister, in repetition to my first question, is he willing to have his department do some further studies to see if that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m pleased to see that the Minister of Justice sits today because his return to oral questions certainly puts my question into proper context. On October 30, 2003, an interesting bill called Bill C-48 was reviewed under the Natural Resources of Canada Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce. The intent of the bill was to attract industry on private lands and further allow deductibles by industry on Crown lands, Mr. Speaker. So my question is to the Minister of Finance. Would he be willing to have his department do further studies to see if this form of taxation...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just to confirm my source of information to the Minister, Mr. Chairman, this point was raised to me by the campus directors in Inuvik in one of my sojourns into Inuvik in the last several months. This is just for information purposes, Mr. Chairman, that it was raised to me by the director of Inuvik campus. This is just for the Minister’s information. That is my comment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again, just trying to put the college housing into perspective, and I'm looking at the glossary on page 9-27, under buildings and works, and college facilities, equipment and utilities. As you know, we have an inherent problem with student housing Inuvik, and the Blueberry Patch is kind of beyond economic repair. So I'm going to ask the department if they would consider a build to lease with some private developers who can provide the college with adequate student housing. This is the only place I can really find the appropriate areas to question the Minister on...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to, for the record, state that my background is employee relations and I was quite active with Dome Petroleum in the Beaufort in developing their labour force. One of the areas that we do need to ensure that when we talk about training programs is that we do give the trainees the opportunity to accumulate the seat time. Seat time is a common phrase used in industry in that the longer they spend on the actual job site the more seniority they get in terms of union standards. I am just going to ask again quickly if the Minister would have his officials and...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be as brief as I can. I want to centralize my discussions on a small component of the Minister’s statement in the career development and maximizing northern employment. I will readdress this in the response he provided me in the Oral Question 10-15(2) in part by employment opportunities. In paragraph three, he said in September of 2003 the Government of the Northwest Territories organized labour groups to begin discussions about the construction of the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline. It speaks a bit about a meeting with the northern pipeline projects...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for replying to my questions. Quickly, in a similar context, can you make a distinction between what the Tlicho taxation agreement applies to the overall process of what would be so different from what I am asking the Minister? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I’m quite surprised that the Minister won’t consider introducing this type of methodology to try to eradicate some of these problems. As we see, direct monies are flowing to aboriginal groups in many instances, as well as northern institutions. I’m asking the Minister again, would he consider in the context of this question introducing such a taxation mechanism to assist this government to see if they can cost-share some of the many expensive programs that we’re currently indentured to deliver? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will remain consistent with the theme of my Member’s statements for this week, using wording that is complimentary to the federal budget address. Although the document acknowledges that much of the funding will not be administered through the Government of the Northwest Territories, this still gives my constituency much relief; the federal government will, once again, make a large investment in supporting a social economy in the North. It is nice to read that the federal budget provides new pilot program funding for the social economy and community economic...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since this is a Friday session, I want to put a little poetry into my Member’s statement today, a poem written about my wife and I as we travelled into rural Canada to promote and educate people about the Northwest Territories. A local poet by the name of Ken Blacklock wrote this poem on March 7, 2004. I haven’t gotten up to recite a poem since my university days at the University of Colorado in 1972 or 1973, so I ask you to indulge me as I may sound awfully rusty. Here goes my concerted effort, Mr. Speaker.

“Though politicians ain’t always my friends,

Today I will...