Bob McLeod

At the Vancouver meetings, the Prime Minister did indicate he was going to work very closely with the 166 communities in the North that are solely dependent on diesel for electrical production. We’re not sure what format that will take. I expect that will be developed during the meetings of the four federal working groups that have been set up to report in October. Certainly, we are very prepared and we are putting into action an approach to develop a new Northwest Territories climate change strategic framework for consideration by the 18th Assembly. As part of that process, we're going to go...

In the 17th Assembly the standing committee on economic development after touring several fracking regions did release a report with quite a number or recommendations. We expect that what we would do is through the review of the Oil and Gas Operations Act and the Petroleum Resources Act we would deal with the issues and we expect the public to raise their concerns with regards to hydraulic fracking.

In response to priorities laid out by the 18th Legislative Assembly the Government of the Northwest Territories has committed to advancing a review of the Petroleum Resources Act and the Oil and Gas Operations Act and the regulations associated with it. We recognize that people want more time to think about how our resources are best managed and developed. This engagement also ties in with the work we are doing to develop a Northwest Territories Oil and Gas Strategy which will not only help us to unlock the petroleum potential of the Northwest Territories but to do so in a way that is...

Thank you for clarifying the position. If the business case shows that there's opportunities for increased effectiveness and efficiencies, that's where the difference comes in, Mr. Speaker.

No decisions have been made as of yet. Possibly there could be changes. It depends on the outcomes of zero-base reviews. If there is a business case to support any amalgamations, those proposals will be reflected in the 2017-18 business plans and we'll reviewed with committees this fall, and I hope the committee will support changes that would be proposed, if any, at that time.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are participating in all four of the working groups, and we're very open to working out a process with my colleagues in this house. We have also, for our climate change strategic framework that we will be working on, we will be setting up our own departmental working groups and also will be consulting with Aboriginal governments and community governments early in the development process. Whatever we develop, we expect it will be consistent with the commitments that were made at the Quebec Summit on Climate Change and the Ontario Climate Summit of the Americas, as...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At the meeting, we raised the concerns that carbon pricing could have a negative impact on the cost of living in the Northwest Territories and other northern territories, and I did point out to the first Minister that it was possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions without introducing carbon pricing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier this week, the successful conclusion of modern treaties and selfgovernment agreements can be seen as the ultimate expression of free prior and informed consent among partners. The Government of Canada's recent adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is an encouraging and tangible demonstration of the federal government's renewed commitment to Canada's Aboriginal people.

I will try to cover that in a few short sentences. The signing of the Inuvialuit SelfGovernment Agreement-in-Principle marks an important step on the road towards Aboriginal selfgovernment for the Inuvialuit. The agreement-in-principle serves as the foundation for the negotiation of a final Inuvialuit selfgovernment agreement. The agreement-in-principle deals with various matters such as culture and language, health, social services, education, economic development, justice, and taxation. It also describes the Inuvialuit Government and its roles and responsibilities, the structures of the...

As a government, we participate in federal, provincial, and territorial meetings in a number of different areas. The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment participates, FPTs and small business, so I always say that by participating, we gain a lot more than we contribute in these FPT meetings because we get access to best practices in every jurisdiction in Canada. Just recently, British Columbia has outlined what they're doing with small business. They have a round table for small business in BC that they feel every province and territory can benefit from doing something similar, so...