(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a return to a question asked by Mrs. Jeannie Marie-Jewell on February 13, 1992, regarding the status of negotiations on the transboundary water agreement. Negotiations with Alberta regarding a transboundary water agreement began in 1983. Several technical documents and a monitoring program were developed as a result of these negotiations. As both governments were heavily involved in the ALPAC hearings, there were no meetings held during the latter part of 1989 and early 1990. Once the Government of the Northwest Territories announced legal action against the federal government over the Daishowa pulp mill, Alberta suspended negotiations because they felt their case may have been compromised by continuing negotiations. In addition, Alberta has indicated that they may not be able to finalize an agreement with the NWT until they have reached an agreement with British Columbia. This is because the water quality and quantity of the Peace River is affected by the Bennett Dam and other upstream industrial developments in British Columbia.
As a means to rekindle negotiations, the GNWT cabinet, in the spring of 1991, directed the Department of Renewable Resources to negotiate an interim agreement with Alberta. These negotiations dealt specifically with water quality on the Slave River and its tributaries.
The Mackenzie River basin committee, which includes the negotiators for the NWT and Alberta, has made a commitment to conclude negotiations on all transboundary bilateral agreements within the Mackenzie River basin by the end of 1992.