Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this government has been working on trying to set the atmosphere and get the environment ready to make all the different aboriginal governments aware of the situation we are in. Since January we have been doing that. It is not really up to us to start negotiations. Together, everybody in the north has to deal with the federal government. They have the control. The honourable Member has to understand that this is where the control is. We are working with all the different organizations in trying to achieve this understanding. The indication that we got from the federal government is that we have to get consensus by everybody involved up here before we move forward.
The other part of the question, I believe, is in regards to an MOU that was signed yesterday by the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development with the province of Alberta. Previously this government had an outstanding memorandum of understanding with the province of Alberta. This was signed previously, which was a very good agreement of cooperation and coordination between Alberta and the Northwest Territories. This MOU yesterday was a subagreement of that MOU that focuses on the possible gas and oil scenarios. My understanding of this MOU is that it is an agreement between the province of Alberta and the Northwest Territories that whatever they do, they keep us informed of their actions so that whatever decisions are made in Alberta do not have a negative, detrimental effect on us in the Northwest Territories. I think that it is a good agreement because they could make decisions that will have an effect on us in the future, so we need to be aware of what they are doing.
In regard to the TransCanada Pipeline MOU, this one is that TransCanada Pipeline had petitioned the government of Alberta to change the way they set tariffs for gas flowing through their pipeline system. The previous arrangement was that they had what they call a postage stamp arrangement, where no matter what distance you are from the producer, the price is the same. You could be a foot from the pipeline or you could be a thousand miles from the pipeline. The price is the same. They are applying to change the tariff by saying that the farther you are away from the producers, the more you pay. That will eventually include us here in the Northwest Territories, where the tariffs eventually, down the line, will be a lot higher for us here in the Northwest Territories than in Alberta, and it may have a negative impact in the future. We are setting the stage for the future. Maybe the First Nations up there will be get involved in gas production and oil production so that they do not have to pay the high tariff later on. This is my understanding of what the MOUs were. It is not the opening of our country or allowing pipelines to come through. This is setting the stage so that people in the North will eventually benefit more from our natural resources. Thank you.