Floyd Roland

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The discussions with the representative of ATCO were ones around what we might be able to do when it comes to projects, specific initiatives in trying to move further along our interest as a government in expanding and delivering on increased hydro across the Northwest Territories. Minister Miltenberger did give an opportunity as to that discussion that happened at that time. We also did discuss the event of Copenhagen and climate change as well. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, as for direct information, we, at the request of Members, set up a process so Members could be involved in those initiative committees, and that started to happen, but they’ve since changed their approach and said no to that. As I stated, the Strategic Initiatives committees start some of the work of what we will look at and what changes we can make, and then it becomes the Ministers responsible for the department. So, for example, in transportation, where that affects the cost of living in our communities across the Northwest Territories, on the size of planes that can come into...

Mr. Speaker, the whole process, as the Member pointed out earlier, between ourselves as a stakeholder or as the shareholder, the Power Corporation itself, our hydro entity, there are a number of partnerships out there now around our hydro with First Nations, as well, and aboriginal governments. There are a number of factors that would have to be considered. Again, that is the PUB side of things that is on another piece of legislation. When we talk about general rate applications that go out around delivering power across the Northwest Territories, there is promise made that that is fairly...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the area of the cost of living, as the Minister responsible for this area, strategic initiative, has highlighted, there are a number of workloads or processes we’ve put in place to deal with some of the cost of living issues that we recognize as a government. Transportation is a big one. Electricity generation and the sale of that is another large one. So we’re looking at a number of initiatives.

Specifically in the area of taxation, any initiative that a Minister leads on the strategic initiatives, they would go back to the department responsible and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we’ve heard from Members, we’ve heard from the leadership across the Northwest Territories, the people, caribou is a way of life for many across the Northwest Territories and our neighbouring territories in the Yukon and Nunavut. It is so important, in fact, Mr. Speaker, that when the issue of the decline in caribou populations across the Northwest Territories arose, the government-of-the-day started investing money into doing a count, and a re-count, and another count. In those senses, the cumulative amount of money we’ve put on the table as a Government of the...

The motions that are passed, whether it is by the Dene Nation or the regional leadership or the specific regional government that brings forward initiatives that we sit down and respond to those motions. We have agreements in place. For example, through the co-management boards, through the settled areas, whether it’s the Inuvialuit, the Gwich’in, the Sahtu, and through the self-government process of the Tlicho. In the unsettled areas there was a number of discussions held. There were meetings, as well, around this issue as well as at the larger meetings at the Dene Nation itself talking about...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The process that we use at Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations when we become aware of these motions is we work with the appropriate departments to see their responses and how they would respond and work with the First Nations government or the Metis or the Inuvialuit, for example. There’s a process that is involved that we bring forward and work with them to try and work with the groups when it comes to the motion. In fact, in this particular case the Wekeezhii process is in place. Part of the Tlicho Self-Government Agreement that we work with and, as...

Mr. Speaker, it’s our responsibility as a government to make sure we work with the partners in the Northwest Territories. In fact, the list of meetings the Member has shows our commitment to work with the aboriginal membership across the Northwest Territories, whether it is around water, land, caribou, the many examples that we’ve worked in partnership developing either legislation or implementation plans about how we can serve and regulate the use of wildlife in the Northwest Territories. So we continue to do that.

As for seeking my opinion about what would qualify as satisfactory engagement...

As a result of the motion and motions prior to that, in fact as early as 2007, the importance of caribou was raised that we as a government from those motions worked with the First Nations aboriginal governments to come up with, number one, the accounts that were in dispute initially. We worked with them to get that information together using traditional knowledge and modern science and supported them with resources to help do the accounts. As well, that then set in place the initiatives that were undertaken by governments by reducing some of the earliest, when it came to tags or else those...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Bob McLeod will be absent from the House today to attend promotional events related to the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, Thank you, Mr. Speaker.