Wally Schumann

I can do better than that. I actually had a chance to meet with the Nahanni Butte leadership down at Roundup and we had a sidebar conversation about economic opportunities in their community. We've already decided that, when they're in Yellowknife, they're going to set up a meeting with me to discuss a number of issues, and I will certainly bring this up as part of our conversation with the leadership and try to help them through it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I said, the community is responsible for the construction of the ice crossing through a service contract that they have with the Government of the Northwest Territories. Once an ice crossing is constructed and ice thickness can handle heavy equipment, specialized ice road construction equipment, such as the Sno-Cats and plow trucks, are brought in either from Fort Simpson or Fort Liard. The reason we do this is because the Nahanni Butte Dene band doesn't have this equipment in place. We're there to help them if they were to go out and purchase this type of equipment, that we would certainly...

Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories has world-class mineral potential that could bring economic benefits to the residents of the Northwest Territories, industry players, and Canada.

In fact, nearly $1 billion of our economy comes from mining and exploration. It is the primary generator of wealth in the Northwest Territories and the reason why our government has made the commitment to support mineral exploration and the mining sector by implementing the Mineral Development Strategy, capturing opportunities to build transportation infrastructure that enables resources to get to market, closing...

I will gladly have a look at the documents that the Member has, but, as I have said, if there was a tender put out to these three manufacturers or something that these three people have qualified for, if there were non-compliant bids that came back, then we would put it out to the public and the wording of that document would change. I will gladly look into this particular tender he is talking about.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Manufactured Products Policy still does exist, but, as the Member knows, we are in the process of engaging or have engaged with the Northwest Territories Manufacturers' Association in the public engagement sessions, and we are working on that. We will be tabling that strategy probably in this sitting, but the policy still exists as it has.

As far as I know, the Disaster Mitigation Fund is one of them. I don't think the federal government has come out with round two of the Clean Water and Waste Water Program yet, but I don't know if that would even be able to meet the expense that this would be, because this is in excess of millions of dollars. I think it needs $28 million, if I remember the number correctly, to replace this line.

As I have said, the Minister of MACA was going to look into other opportunities, what the city could do. One of the things that was discussed briefly is the YK Dene is tied to this situation, if there...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I can one-up that. Myself and the Minister of MACA actually met with the SAO and the mayor of Yellowknife and had this discussion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I've said, we're willing to work with the community if they're willing to go out and purchase equipment. We're certainly willing to hand over the rest of the contract to them to employ their local people and get the most benefit that they can out of it, as much as they can from their community. We're also working with them around their financial management of their contract, as well, and encouraging them to submit invoices in a timely manner so they can recover their costs on a faster basis to be able to help them move this along.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think this is going to be an interesting discussion because the Nahanni Butte ice crossing is flooded, dredged, and profiled by the Nahanni Butte Dene band. They already do that work. I know our department brings in the heavy equipment, the Sno-Cats and plow trucks, once they get that up to that speed, and we work with the community on providing their local labour, employments benefits to the community as much as we can.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, that Bill 35, Supply Chain Management Professional Designation Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.