Bob McLeod

Mr. Speaker, a strong partnership with the Government of Canada is essential to ensuring Northerners can achieve their social, environmental, and economic goals. By working with our federal counterparts, the Government of the Northwest Territories will help create a Northwest Territories where all people can thrive and be healthy, where a strong economy provides jobs and opportunities for all our communities, and where a wellmanaged environment contributes to our economic wellbeing and quality of life.

Mr. Speaker, this past Friday I met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to discuss some of the...

I believe that, with all of the responsibilities that Ministers have, there are probably about 25 to 30 federalprovincialterritorial meetings that occur on an annual basis. I believe that, in every instance, there are press releases and communiques that come out of them. Certainly, I understand that we share those with Regular Members, and we will continue to do so.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to reassure the Member that we signed the Health Accord, which is more than the original offer, and we communicated that in writing. The Member would seem to suggest that we can control federal Ministers and their travels. Nothing can be further from the truth. We just had the Prime Minister come, and we had the Minister of Health, and the meetings are confirmed a day before they are here. The Minister of Health requested the meetings, and she did not say what she wanted to talk about.

This has been an issue. We have raised it before with the Government of...

This agreement will begin a new phase in the relationship between the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Inuvialuit government, and that relationship will continue to evolve as the Inuvialuit take on more responsibility for the delivery of programs and services and pass their own laws, similar to the evolving relationship with the Deline SelfGovernment Agreement.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am very pleased to report that the negotiations on Inuvialuit selfgovernment between the Inuvialuit, Canada, and the Government of the Northwest Territories are going very well. As a matter of fact, negotiators are meeting this week in Aklavik, and the negotiations are going so well that we expect that a final agreement can be concluded within the next few months. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to recognize a constituent from Yellowknife South, Fraser Oliver. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Report of Special Warrants Issued – November 5, 2016 to January 30, 2017." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As a result of working on a new climate change framework and a new energy strategy, we do have a team of people that are working together from the departments of ENR and Public Works, and they work on public engagement and the development of these strategies so that they align with our long-term objectives. These teams include senior officials of the Government of the Northwest Territories, and with our responsibilities to the development of these strategies we can certainly send somebody to attend or are open to participating in stakeholder-driven engagement sessions. As I said, we will be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not aware of a microgrid charette being organized in Yellowknife in June, so it would be helpful perhaps for the Member to edify me on who is organizing, who the proponents are.

I can say that the Government of Northwest Territories is currently in the process of engaging with energy stakeholders as part of the development of a new climate change framework and energy strategy. To date we've held meetings in Inuvik, Norman Wells, Fort Smith, and Yellowknife. We have workshop sessions upcoming in Fort Simpson, Hay River, and Behchoko. We've received submissions from...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said, when we get the details we will certainly look seriously at doing it. I guess the main issue for me is, if we spend $190,000 on a charette, does that mean if that charette comes out with recommendations because we spent so much money that we are bound by whatever comes out of that charette? So I guess that's the main thing that we have to look at when we are evaluating this proposal.