Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is nothing that prevents us from making such suggestions, but at this time it is all hypothetical. There is no significant finds for hundreds of miles from Yellowknife. The closest is, as I say, in the Liard area which is a long ways from Yellowknife. Seventeen thousand people, at this time, is not a significant number in population size to warrant making it economical. But at some time in the future, if there is such a case where there is a significant find close to Yellowknife, of course, it is possible that governments and communities can insist some of that resource should be made available to neighbouring communities for the benefit of northern people. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for Mr. Kakfwi, the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development. The question concerns the issue of Giant Mine. I spoke on that earlier today. The concern that is out there for 278 employees and, of course, a lot of people in this community who supply services to that particular mining operation. As I stated earlier, it is not confirmed yet who the buyer is, but there is certainly definite concern about the proper succession of the mine. The main concern is employees do not know whether they have a job or not. If these 278 jobs disappear, then we have got serious problems, Mr. Speaker. Dealing with the issue of succession, there are agreements in place that should be adhered to. There is concern that, that will not happen. Issues like proper notice of termination, severance pay, topping up of pension plans, priority hiring, et cetera. My question for the Minister is related to our government's role in this whole area. Can the Minister tell me if our government has been consulted or informed and had some input with respect to Price Waterhouse Cooper's process of looking at selling this mine? That is my first question, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since the mine went into receivership earlier this year, the Government of the Northwest Territories has been actively seeking to be a player in the process. The mine itself is in receivership, and the receiver has undertaken to look for someone to buy the company, the assets and take over the operations of the mine, if possible. Also, the receiver has been seeking clarification on the environmental liability of the mine. We have, as a government, made it clear to the receiver earlier, that we think it is important that the interests of the workers also be taken into account and treated with serious consideration, people that are owed wages, overtime, and benefits. These need to be clarified and dealt with by the receiver and by the federal government if they are involved in that process. We have tried to keep that in the forefront as well as the fact that, if possible, we hope that a buyer would come forward that could also operate the mine, at

least for some time in the future, to minimize the economic impact of a massive layoff at this time. We have also said that the environmental liability has to be clarified up front. We have been pushing the federal government to do that as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that we, as a government, have been anxious to participate actively. But my question is, have we received input into the receiver, to not proceed with any deal that results in 278 employees losing their jobs and a new company does not recognize the succession rights? Have we provided that information and that position to the receiver and to DIAND? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is largely an action being taken by the private sector. A company has been put in receivership and a receiver is in place to ensure that one way or the other, there is some action being taken to deal with the assets and the employees of the company. We have had meetings with the receiver to raise our concerns, outline the interest we have in this matter. We have conveyed them, as well, to the federal government, from the very first and early part of this development. We met with the union this afternoon to hear from them the specific concerns that they have with the hope of providing them with the information that we have that may alleviate some of the fears, as well as perhaps directing them to focus the concerns in specific areas where there is some ambiguity in the process to date. I believe that there is another meeting lined up tomorrow.

So we are trying to play a productive role in this process, but I must remind Members that the receiver is the one that is going to deal with the disposal of assets or the sale of this company and that we are only, at best, an interested party, a party that is insisting the views and concerns be taken into account, that we have no particular status in the eyes of the receiver. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when 285 jobs are involved in this territory, I think we have a responsibility to play a role in that. I do not think it is acceptable to just say we are not a party at the table. We need to be there. This is 285, when you multiply that by two it is 600 jobs in this community that are going to be affected. Mr. Dent is worried about the transfer payments and the amount of money we are going to have. We are going to lose people out of this territory if we are not careful. My question is, will the Minister commit to telling the receiver and DIAND that we need to see the offer and that we, as a territorial government, want time to digest this so that all parties can digest it properly to save these jobs? That is what ultimately is at stake. If we lose them on Friday, then it is too late. We have an opportunity now to do something about it. Will the Minister commit to my question of asking for time for the parties to digest this? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we have seen this development as a very serious development, as the Member should be aware. We have conveyed that to the federal government. We have conveyed that to the receiver. We will continue to work to try and ensure that the development does not have a negative impact on Yellowknife, on the economy and the Government of the Northwest Territories. We will continue to work with the receiver and the federal government to make sure that whatever proposal is received, that the best proposal is accepted, that we will work to offer our advice, our input on how proposals can be improved so that the interests of the workers, the interests of the city, the Government of the Northwest Territories, and the environment are all balanced in a way that we can feel comfortable in seeing a deal be accepted by the receiver. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think it is ultimately important, Mr. Speaker, that time be allowed to digest this. Once the decision is made, it is too late. We, as the territorial government, can do something about that, and I wonder if the Minister will ask the receiver to table what the offer is and the company to table what the offer is to allow our employees that are affected by this, they are sitting on pins and needles out there, to say okay this is a good deal, there are two issues, one is employment and we understand there may be loss of employment and that is acceptable to a degree. But the second is succession rights. We cannot just accept that they wash their hands of everything, including DIAND, Miramar, if that is who is going to buy the mine, or whoever buys the mine. Would the Minister commit to a two week grace period that they ask the receiver so we can digest this? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The receiver has been working with the federal government and with ourselves. The receiver has asked for our views and our input into a number of elements that may be constituted presently in some of the proposals that the receiver has accepted from the private sector. There is no doubt that we have concerns about this development, we have conveyed that as clearly and as forcefully as we can. The things that count, as I have said, the receiver has no obligation to us as a government. It is clearly

something that is being dealt with through due process but we have been invited to take part and we have been trying to be a positive party to this process to date. We think we have done fairly well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe that there has been extensive work done in the region and in the community of Inuvik. The project has been widely supported by the residents, by the business community in the town of Inuvik. It has been a relatively high profile type of initiative that stands to lower the cost of living for the town of Inuvik for doing business in the town of Inuvik. It is a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions so environmentally it is a huge plus. It is true that it will have an impact on some individual businesses but this is a development that is welcomed and supported by the community and by the region. Thank you.