Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to the Member's statement earlier today, but I don't have that information with me, so I will have to take the question as notice.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Renewable Resources. I would like the Minister to indicate, if he could, how he sees his department working with the community of Fort Smith in the area of restocking or pulling together a proposal for the bison ranch, given all that has happened and the fact that they made a prior commitment and stripped the place bare, all the while telling us they wanted to work together. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The government, through the Department of Renewable Resources, is still prepared to entertain any viable proposal from the community of Fort Smith with regard to their stated continued interest in looking at bison ranching, provided that there is no

requirement for funding from the Government of the Northwest Territories who are still waiting for some proposal to illustrate to us that people are working together in the community of Fort Smith, set aside their differences to put forward a viable proposal and that the proposal would have some indication of how it would be funded in the interim and in the long term. When we receive such a proposal, we are happy to sit down to see what could be done. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Given that laudable sentiment and that expression of willingness to work, what values can we place on that kind of written commitment when we have heard that and we were told that. We have been in ongoing contact with the department, yet the department seems to have done everything in its power to make sure that it is almost an impossibility to pull together a viable proposal. We have signed letters from the Minister and the deputy, yet they seem to forget the paper commitments. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, unfortunately for the community of Fort Smith, a neighbouring community had come forward with a proposal which this government felt it needed to, in a timely manner, respond to. The community of Fort Resolution did put together a proposal. There was an agreement amongst the leaders in the community about how they were going to go about initiating the proposal. They did find someone who was willing to provide funding to make sure this proposal was financially viable. Because of the timing required, the government felt we wanted to stick to the deadline of December 1st, as a time when we would get out of bison ranching. Because the community of Fort Smith did not give any indication that it was putting forward a proposal up until that time, we felt we had to respect the proposal that was sitting in front of us. This is the one we are still working with. We are doing what we can to ensure that this particular initiative is also given our full support. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Maybe I should rephrase my question because obviously it wasn't clear. I am not asking you about the buffalo that are now gone. I am asking about the process and commitments that were given to allow us to put together a proposal and the commitment to leave the infrastructure on the ranch that was there, so we had that chance to do that. A written commitment was reneged on, like the deadline you gave us. What can we believe?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am not sure of what assurance or commitments were made that said we were going to leave all the assets of the ranch that belongs to the government at the site. As the Member knows, we have had to construct the winter road to the Hanging Ice Bison Ranch in order to take out the bison. We aren't prepared to leave the equipment that belongs to this government there for another year on the assumption that a viable proposal from Fort Smith will be coming. There is an ice bridge now constructed that is still crossable. We intend to take all the property that belongs to this government out on that winter road as soon as possible. All other assets that belong to the HTA or the Hanging Ice Ranch will stay where they are. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If it is so clear, why did the department lead the community on? Why did your deputy put his name to paper giving people hope when it was very clear that you obviously had a plan already in place, not only to give away the buffalo but to strip the ranch bare?