Joe Handley

Mr. Speaker, I can assure this House that I will talk tough on it, the Finance Minister will talk tough on it, and our government will talk tough at the same time. We are not ones to issue hollow threats. We will negotiate, we will negotiate strongly, but if it comes down to it, then we have to be tough with the federal government if it goes there.

I know, Mr. Speaker, that the Prime Minister’s eyes are very much on the North. He has talked about working with us on a vision for the North, on developing a northern strategy. So I like the signals I hear coming, and I am sure that we can be...

Mr. Speaker, I don’t yet have what I would consider to be a clear mandate from all the aboriginal leaders to negotiate a final interim resource revenue sharing agreement. I do have the majority of aboriginal leaders onside with the concept. They were going to get together for two days this week to work out more of the detail and I was going to meet with them on Thursday evening, myself and Minister Roland. I understand that that meeting now is postponed probably until next week.

Mr. Speaker, I want to work in partnership with the aboriginal leaders in pursuing this. I don’t want to just have...

Mr. Speaker, I would need more information because what I have received so far is just information that Dene elders from across North America and youth and others are gathering on a reserve outside of Calgary and asking us for $15,000, I believe it was, to send some drummers to this event. I don’t know anything about the event. I just need more information, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, certainly, I would consider the one in 2006 where we have some notice. We have some time to answer questions and see what the agenda is, who is participating, who else is contributing funding. That kind of thing I would certainly look very carefully at. When we get these last minute ones, it is very difficult for us to justify spending the money. I would really appreciate information quickly on the 2006 proposed event. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, yes, we have a mandate that we have given to our negotiators, and yes, I certainly would be willing to make that available. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Devolution discussions have certainly been a major topic of discussion among all aboriginal leaders. Most of the leaders, I must say, Mr. Speaker, are on side, but there are some situations where the grand chiefs, the leaders in the regions are still negotiating their land claim or other aboriginal processes, and they have said slow down devolution until we get our processes out of the way first at the regional level. I continue to promote moving ahead speedily with devolution, but on the condition that we also have a resource revenue sharing arrangement that is...

As I noted earlier, we have established a Joint Cabinet/Accountability and Oversight Pipeline Planning Committee to ensure our preparations and planning are as inclusive as possible. This committee will provide guidance and advice as we move forward in planning for the pipeline and negotiating a comprehensive socioeconomic agreement with the proponents of the Mackenzie gas project.

Mr. Speaker, our goal of a diversified economy goes hand in hand with our goal of caring and protecting the environment. We have a keen commitment to environmental stewardship. We have taken a proactive approach to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to welcome you and all Members back to the Assembly after a busy and productive summer.

This summer, Members of Cabinet were able to travel to many communities at the invitation of Members to meet with local councils, organizations and residents, or to attend summer assemblies. I had the good fortune to attend many of the summer assemblies, including the Deh Cho Assembly in Kakisa, the Northwest Territories Metis Nation Assembly in Fort Smith, the Akaitcho Assembly in Ndilo, the Tlicho Assembly in Gameti, and the Dene National Assembly at Yellowknife River...

Mr. Speaker, I certainly don’t want to get into discussing what’s in the business plan, but I can say that the standing committee has asked for a briefing on it before we release any information and we have, I think the Ministers responsible, Mr. Dent and Mr. Bell, have asked for some time. So we will work with the standing committee first. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the program is ongoing. All but five of the current people in the program have been placed or are on assignment. So the program is functioning for them. The deadline for application for new people who want to take the program or be enrolled in the program is June 15th. So if there are individuals out there that any of the Members are aware of, and who are interested in being in the program, then I would certainly be interested in their names and ensure that they have the opportunity to go through the application process. But, as I said, all but five of the current people in...