Mr. Speaker, the meeting that I attended illustrated very clearly for myself, more importantly for the public that attended that meeting, why it was so important for this government to push for the drafting, and eventual signing of the Transboundary Master Agreement. There is an agreement which we signed, and are waiting for the Government of British Columbia to sign, that is called the Transboundary Master Agreement. That agreement calls for the sharing of information of all jurisdictions, namely, the Government of British Columbia, the Alberta Government, the Government of Saskatchewan, Yukon Government with ourselves, plus certain aboriginal First Nations.

The need to share information was illustrated very clearly at the meeting yesterday where the staff from the Alberta Government conceded that, because of the particular terms of reference, they were not able to see or appreciate their responsibilities as a government, and particularly as individual staff people, extended right to the Alberta/NWT border. The staff of Environment Canada finally realized in the middle of this meeting last night that there were major concerns of events that were happening with BC Hydro last summer. Along with the record snowfalls, snow build up and spring run-off in the particular water sheds that lead from the dam, leads into the watersheds that get into the Athabasca, the Mackenzie Rivers system, and the Slave River system, that there were major concerns resulting from those developments in British Columbia that impacted on the communities in Alberta, and well into the Northwest Territories along the Slave River, Great Slave Lake, down the Mackenzie River, right into the Mackenzie Delta.

On a different level, the representative of BC Hydro and the engineer that came from the Alberta Department of Environment, provided very good information that illustrated why there were such high water levels in the spring and summer along the Slave River, the Slave Lake, and along the Mackenzie River. Those are the things that I observed as a Minister attending this particular meeting. Thank you.