Robert C. McLeod

ENR is the lead department for the Giant Mine project. However, we do work closely with other departments, such as ITI, through the Interdepartmental Working Group. This is a federal-funded project, and federal procurement and contracting rules are being followed. We continue to work with the federal government on bringing our concern forward. I believe our Minister of ITI, in his conversations with his counterpart, has raised it. I believe our Premier has also raised it in his discussions on there, as I have as well.

This work is expected to be completed by the summer of 2018. We will outline...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, because we are talking to a couple of potential suppliers, I don't think I'm in a position to answer any detailed questions on the procurement of cannabis. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Premier will be absent from the House for the remainder of this sitting to receive the Diamonds Do Good Responsible Government Award on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will share anything publicly, but, out of respect for the consensus system, I need to share the information with committee first, because we have seen what happens if we somehow release some information to the public before we get it to committee. So, once we have the discussion with committee and we have our discussion with Ottawa, I will be more than happy to release anything publicly so people out there can realize and know what a great job that the officials within the Government of the Northwest Territories did mitigating the impacts of carbon pricing on the people of Northwest...

I will be making it available to the public, including tabling. I can table the letter, but what I need to do before that, out of respect for a consensus system, is share. We have a briefing with committee, and I want to give committee an update before I am in a position to release anything publicly.

Early indications are, for the federal government, this is one of the projects that meets their vision. When we put a good business case forward, I think the federal government will be receptive to helping us to see this project come to fruition.

It is something that fits into their mandate, and it's something that early indications are they have kind of looked at this project favourably. Whether that translates into significant investment remains to be seen, but we have to ensure that we have a fairly solid business case going forward.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the discussions on the territorial financing renewal are well-advanced. It is important to remember that this is described in federal legislation, as opposed to an agreement that is negotiated.

Currently, there is a general agreement on a renewal, and the changes proposed by the federal government are minor and relatively technical in nature. We were pleased that there weren't any significant changes that would reduce our grant. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am not sure about the plans, but a lot of those folks out there who are in that type of industry, they know where some of the fires were, so there is an opportunity for them to go into the riding. We would hope that members of the constituency would be the first ones to try and go take advantage of the harvest, but I am sure that those who are in that industry, those who pick them, do know where the fires are, and if there is an opportunity, they would go there and pick them.

As far as promoting it, I would have to check with my colleague at ITI to see if there is anything in the works on...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I apologize for missing the Member's fantastic statement. I hear the Member's point, and I have seen pictures of the fire that they had. Let us hope that we don't have those types of situations again this year. We try to work with the communities in fire smarting their communities.

I believe there was a local FireSmart representative workshop that was held in Yellowknife recently in March. I am not quite sure who the participants were. I understand there were 24 attendees from Communities, Lands, and a few other departments. I will work with...

Mr. Speaker, there was a lot of work that went on on carbon pricing since the federal government came up with the initiative to implement carbon pricing, whether it was welcome or not. Our challenge was to do a lot of work, a lot of background work, to see what the effect would be on the people of the Northwest Territories and try to mitigate the effect on the people of the Northwest Territories. I think we have come up with a fairly good proposal in doing that. That is why we told the federal government that we will not be using their backstop. We did some numbers using their backstop, and it...