Bob McLeod

Here in the Northwest Territories, we are very fortunate to have very strong Chambers of Commerce. We have the NWT Chamber of Commerce and we have at least five or six chambers throughout the Northwest Territories in every region. We have a very close relationship, and the NWT Chamber of Commerce shares our view of the red tape report, and because of the fact that we are a small jurisdiction, we can interact almost on a one-to-one basis with businesses, especially when we travel to the regions.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess the main barriers, as I see it, is the ability to develop business plans and the access to financial assistance and aftercare so that the biggest barrier to being a successful business is getting through the first year and surviving for five years, so any aftercare we can provide. 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...

Reducing red tape is a constant priority of our government and we spend a lot of time at it. I don't find the Canadian Federation of Independent Business Red Tape Report card of much help or assistance or very useful. I don't feel that having somebody coming down from Toronto once or twice a year and giving us a failing grade and not making any suggestions on how to improve. They don't go to the communities. I don't find that report very helpful.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. They were not affected. Those three positions were transferred into a separate division, in Executive called priorities and planning and the other one is a board secretariat for PUB.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. At one time the money to assist, to help administer, was housed in the Executive. It was felt, with all the work that was happening at a national level, that it was better housed in Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations because of the additional support that could be provided inter-governmentally. It was a bit much to have one woman's advisor that was previously in the Executive do all the preparatory work for FPT, woman's issues, and so on. By having it housed in there, it was able to get more support for those meetings. Most of the work is administrative...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we know, the Sahtu has been explored historically for oil and gas but it also was one of the earlier regions where mining first occurred and now we see the need to diversify into mining from oil and gas in the Sahtu. We know there's some significant interest in mining and there's also significant potential, and we are looking at developing regional mining strategies in every region in the Northwest Territories, so certainly we'd be prepared to consider a mining conference in the region. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The positions that we have identified are Nahanni Butte. Fort Providence, Fort Liard. There is one in Trout Lake, but that hasn't been staffed yet. Thank you, Mr. Chair.