Bob McLeod

That protocol is in the process of being renegotiated. It'll be rolled out very shortly, and we stand by it. Communications is a standing item of all of our Cabinet meetings of every decision paper and we will continue to endeavour to fulfill those commitments that we've committed.

I am pleased to recognize a constituent from Yellowknife South, Mr. Lona Hegeman, who is accompanied by Mr. Amir Kassab. Mr. Kassab is originally from Paris, France, and is in the Northwest Territories on a two-year work visa. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and welcome.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to welcome all Members back to the second session of the 18th Legislative Assembly. During this session we will continue our work together to advance the priorities of the Assembly and the mandate commitments of the Government of the Northwest Territories. One of the priorities of the Assembly is to improve accountability, transparency, and collaboration. The Government of the Northwest Territories made several commitments in its mandate in relation to this priority, including a commitment to improve public visibility and accessibility of Cabinet by organizing Cabinet...

The consequences are obviously it deteriorates the relationship we have with the standing committees, and so we endeavour to not have that happen. We follow up and work very closely with all of the Ministers and all of the departments. Certainly, deputy ministers are held to account for work that is being done by their departments, but certainly it's something that we are endeavoured to improve upon on every occasion.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wouldn't go so far as to characterize it as serious breaches. I would just talk about the four instances that the Member raised on the Robertson Headframe with Newmont. The proponent wrote to all the Yellowknife MLAs indicating that he had talked to our government. I do have e-mails from the four Yellowknife MLAs outlining their positions with regards to the Robertson Headframe. So for him to say that it's a complete surprise that we were talking about the Robertson Headframe, I guess he considers that as very serious. Perhaps we should have communicated directly with...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Alfred Moses will be absent from the House today and tomorrow to attend the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Ministers of Immigration meeting in Quebec. Also, Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Louis Sebert will be absent from the House today and tomorrow to attend the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Ministers of Justice and Public Safety meeting in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair, that’s correct as well. Thank you.

I have already written to the Indigenous Affairs Minister a number of times. I have met with her at least three or four times. We will be meeting again in the coming months. I am quite prepared to write to her again to specifically ask her about the environmental assessment and if she has any timelines.

We have engaged in the federal government on a number of fronts on this because it is a very important matter to us. The MVRMA is a product of land claims negotiations in the Mackenzie Valley. The goal of this legislation is to provide a single process. It provides a voice for each of the groups. Although the legislation is federal, it is the result of a collaborative process. In our minds there are three types of activities right now, all linked to the MVRMA. First and foremost is the fact that as the Member indicated Canada made a number of changes to the MVRMA that impacted the North. It is...

The Negotiated Contracts Policy will be reviewed again in the fall of 2016, and the results will be shared with the standing committee. We will involve the standing committees. As per land claims agreements, one of the requirements is under economic measures; we have responsibility to also engage the community governments, so we do that in a normal course of events, Mr. Speaker.