Joe Handley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not going to sing. I’d like to, but I won’t. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to congratulate an aboriginal owned corporation with their offices in Weledeh. This afternoon I was told that because of the efforts of this company, that all communities in the NWT will, by the end of this year, have broadband Internet services.

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Mr. Speaker, the Denendeh Development Corporation is a community champion of the Broadband Business Alliance, and will be signing a contribution agreement with Industry Canada as part of an overall project worth $16.7 million. This...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 20, Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 3, 2004-2005, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I am sure we can, because it is open and…Of course, the communications are through the embassy, but I am sure that they would, at our request, forward these on to other people who may have interest in it as well.

Mr. Speaker, it’s a good tool to use. I think that one drawback that I saw yesterday is that anyone else who wants to log on can also view your dialogue that is taking place. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I can’t speak for the consulate general or for the ambassador and their motivation setting up the virtual consulate. They do, I assume, want to share information and be able to communicate. Mr. Speaker, in my view, we are clearly not part of American foreign policy. We have our own views, our own government and federal government. That is where our interests and our loyalty lie.

Mr. Speaker, we do have issues though, that we must deal with, with our neighbours. Those are issues like climate change, environment and, as the Member has said, caribou migrations and sovereignty and...

Mr. Speaker, I can say that I was very surprised, taken aback; in fact angry, yesterday, when I found out, when it was on the 5:30 news, that CBC had gotten this information before we did, before I did and before anybody in our government did. Mr. Speaker, I don’t know for sure who was involved in the announcement, if it was an announcement made. CBC certainly had it. But I did, as well as calling Minister Scott, call our MP and Minister for Northern Development, Ethel Blondin-Andrew. She called me back this morning and certainly apologized for not letting us know. She explained that she...

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I expect that the recommendations from the committees will be reviewed at the next regular FMB meeting, and either myself or the chair of the Financial Management Board, our Minister of Finance, will certainly apprise the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am just overwhelmed with the gift.

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Mr. Speaker, yes, I will definitely read the document. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to give the Assembly a status report on the progress of the Deh Cho Bridge project.

It was a little over three years ago, in February 2002, when the Fort Providence Combined Council Alliance first brought forward its proposal to form a public/private partnership that would build a bridge across the Mackenzie River near Fort Providence. The government of the 14th Assembly gave the proposal a careful review and found that the proposal was not only feasible but, in many ways, quite attractive. First and foremost was the prospect of a permanent, all-weather highway link...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I am very interested in who the new ambassador will be. The announcement is, I understand, to be made in the next week or two and I have been working very closely with the Consul General. I might add that this is the second trip that the Consul General has made since his appointment several months ago. He was here in November and he is back here again, so there is definitely very much interest by the American government in the potential for tourism, mining, diamonds, oil and gas and so on in the Northwest Territories. We want to keep up that relationship....

Mr. Speaker, I would be pleased to do that and in fact Mr. Speaker, I did go over to Sir John Franklin High School yesterday to take part in the orientation for the students and the introduction of this virtual consulate. I did take the opportunity, even though I didn’t want to hone in on the students' projects too much, to send a message to Ambassador Cellucci and I did, while waiting there, get a reply from him, as did a number of students.

Mr. Speaker, I think all northerners, if they have questions and they want to make their views known, should access the site; it is there. I don’t have...