Bob McLeod

I would be pleased to visit the community with the Member and certainly anything we can do to help to facilitate, we will try to do. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We are looking at ways to try to improve some of the existing infrastructure that’s there so that the Mactung can use or perhaps see fit to use the road and airport that is there now. I think in order to do that, we need to find a way to upgrade what’s being used as an airport. Right now it’s just the CANOL Road that was built 40 years ago and they’re using that to land on and the road that’s being used was built in 1945. So we’re very prepared to work with the Sahtu people, because we think there are some economic opportunities there and we think if we improve the airport and the road even a...

We would have some funding to do some planning work. I think that once we get closer to something concrete, we would have to identify funds through our capital plans. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve had the opportunity to visit the Mactung site this summer, along with the Member, and it was quite impressive. As the Member knows, all of the work that is being done on the Mactung site is on the Yukon side of the border. Having said that, I think there are opportunities to access that mine through the Northwest Territories, and we are well aware of the CANOL Park and we’re very prepared to work with the Sahtu to help develop that park. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce that the implementation of 20/20: A Brilliant North, NWT Public Service Strategic Plan is well underway. This plan is the first of its kind for the Department of Human Resources.

Mr. Speaker, 20/20: A Brilliant North is an important and exciting strategic plan that will guide the Government of the Northwest Territories human resource planning over the next 10 years and is being championed by all deputy ministers. The actions contained in the accompanying three-year action plan are ambitious, with year one focussing on the development of a number of...

We do work with ENR and we do have a checkstop there during the summer months. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand my colleague and the Minister of ENR have agreed to work very closely with people of the community to make sure that we try to reduce this activity as much as possible. When I was in Whitehorse and had the opportunity to meet with my counterpart from the Yukon government, I asked him what, if anything, were they doing to monitor the people coming into the Northwest Territories through the Yukon with ATVs and so on. He has indicated that, as far as they were concerned, it was a public highway and the public is free to enter into the Northwest Territories. I...

As the Member knows, we have an electricity review underway and as part of the terms of reference, this is one of the areas the review team will be looking at and this is what we will be reviewing when we get the recommendations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier this year we announced the number of actions that ITI was taking to help small business, specifically with BDIC, those of our clients that are best clients that we are making reduced loans available to them. We also are helping with working capital for those companies that would be ordering for goods that they would be selling. We’ve made arrangements for some effective rates for them to take advantage of. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mining resources are owned by the federal government or else if they are negotiated through a land claim and they have subsidiary rights, as you indicated, then they’re owned by the Sahtu government. So as I said, we are prepared to make sure that Northerners benefit from development when they happen in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.