Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the quick answer is yes, and I've made the commitment before that I'm going to work with the department, because the word "other" does open it up for questions and we'll take steps to rectify that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, earlier indications are that the water levels should be fine this year, and hopefully that holds true; then we won’t have to provide more money for low water levels.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, as I think the Members have read in the paper or in the news, the line is being lit up all the way up to Fort Good Hope. One of the comments I remember is they don't have to wait for Netflix now. It is just "boom," they got it automatically. The last update we had was the crossings. I think they were doing okay with the crossings. They just have one more that they had to do. Then they should be connected all the way up to Inuvik. On the revenue side, my understanding is we have started seeing some revenue already. We will confirm that if the Member is...

I do, Mr. Chair.

$10.6 million as of December 1st.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I will find out if I am able to do that, or if I do find the letters, I will share them with the Members, and if possible, I can table them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In my meeting with the federal Finance Minister, I did raise the concern of indexing it. We actually have not heard back from them yet, but I will make a commitment then to follow up on that because there are a number of questions we have for the federal Minister, and we have an FTP coming up. I think it's later on this year. I will try to make contact with them to see if there is any progress made on our request. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Speaker, the decision was actually not made by our government. We were prepared to sign an agreement with Canada; however, because of the concerns of the Aboriginal governments the agreement was not signed.

In December of 2016, there was a joint letter that was sent to the environmental agreement signatories and parties to inform them that the GNWT and INAC recommended that Canada remain a signatory to these agreements but with limited responsibilities.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we have heard the Member, and we have heard his concern. I have read his pamphlet, and it's not something that we are contemplating at this particular time. Maybe there will be opportunities in the future, but, as of right now, no, we are not contemplating that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, after devolution, the Government of the Northwest Territories assumed the responsibilities of the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, or INAC, as outlined in the environment agreements for the territory's three diamonds. However, the environmental agreements have not been formally amended to reflect this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.