Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member is well aware, I've recently just got this portfolio and I've been reading up as much as I can on some of this stuff. I believe when we get into looking into the strategy of how we're going to move some of this stuff forward, we're going to have to sit down and review some of this and welcome probably input from the Regular Members when we do this as well, and that could be one of the things we looked at. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

No, thank you.

As plans move forward and we develop our business cases for the next consecutive years we will continue to look at all people and opportunities and engage all Aboriginal groups in the settlement area to be involved in the contracting.

I'll turn it over to Mr. Guy.

First of all, I want to thank the Member for his compliments today. Brush cutting is very important to the safety of all residents travelling on the Dempster. I had the opportunity this year to travel with the Member up and down the Dempster and see some of the challenge areas where we have a lot of willows. This year, we did approximately two hectares of brushing on the highway. We did from kilometre 75 to 95, and the coming year we have approximately five hectares of brushing, so more than double what we did this year, and we're going to do from kilometre 95 to 142.

Thank you Mr. Chair. I’ll defer to Mr. Guy.

That's a federal government responsibility. Like I said, we are engaged in conversation with them, but until the site is fully reclaimed, it is a federal responsibility and I would have to see what the federal government would have available to share with the Member. But again, like I say, it's a federal responsibility.

I'll defer that to Mr. Guy.

Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories’ economy is built on mining and exploration. Today our mining sector is the largest provider of high paying jobs and the main driver of the territorial economy. We have committed, in our mandate, to supporting mineral exploration and the NWT mining sector with actions and investments identified in the NWT Mineral Development Strategy.

Our goal is to realize all the benefits of our mineral resources to support ongoing prosperity for NWT residents and communities. At the appropriate time this afternoon, I will be tabling an overview of our five-year...

I'll defer to Mr. Guy.