Bob McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In the Sahtu region, we’re working very hard to see the introduction of one of the largest and most beautiful parks in the Northwest Territories, the CANOL Trail Park, and we certainly want to work with the Sahtu region to get the federal government to speed up its remediation of the land before it can be transferred so that we can have the area designated as a territorial park. I think no one knows better than the Member, who has walked every step of the way of the CANOL Trail. I think it will be a major attraction for tourism not only in the Sahtu but in the Northwest...

This office helps coordinate the activities throughout the government and is also responsible for coordinating with community governments and aboriginal governments. So they have been travelling to the different communities to update them on what’s been happening with the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline.

Mr. Speaker, the Summer Student Employment Program is a crucial part of this government’s commitment towards the people of the North and the development of a skilled and knowledgeable northern workforce. The 2010 Summer Student Employment Program is underway and applications for summer student employment are being accepted.

I ask all Members, residents and parents that if they are aware of any students seeking summer employment, to encourage them to register as early as possible with the Department of Human Resources at @email.

Mr. Speaker, each year the Government of the Northwest...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think those are all very important questions. I think that with the environmental assessment the rationale and logic is that there’s a very tight business case. It will be a function of the power purchase agreements and how the financing would be arranged. I think that it will all hinge on the environmental assessment and negotiations with the diamond mines. That’s where the regulated/unregulated difference is and I think that hydro power is a very important part of reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.

Yes, Mr. Chairman, I would.

Our expectation is that the money would be available from existing ITI funding programs. If there was a requirement for additional funding, we would have to look at the $2 million that’s available from... We’d have to work with ENR for any incremental requirements.

Yes, I do, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

That is my understanding, and working with ENR we’ll be working closely with the NWT Association of Communities and engaging communities. I’d like to point out that our expectation is because of the fact that our government has had tremendous success in promoting the use of biomass in the Northwest Territories and you can see it in the large number of government buildings that are using wood pellets. So I expect that we’ll have similar success with communities, although because of the fact that there’s biomass available in every community in the Northwest Territories except maybe in the...

We do have a seamless operation when it comes to the issuing of loans and contributions. The difference, it all depends on the business itself. If we do have an interest in there, then we can go in there and do a post-mortem. If it’s somebody in the private sector, then we would probably have to respond to their request in order to be able to gain access to information which is generally private information.