Mr. Chairman, just a couple of brief comments on a couple of the issues. First of all, on the economic development strategy document you just received, if you had a chance to flip through the pages you are ahead of me because I received it this afternoon and I committed to giving it to you as soon as I did. I have not read it either, I just signed the covering letter and passed it on to you. The development of that strategy is an example of how the department works effectively by using, in that case, a panel of people who represented the Territories and also the private sector quite broadly, as well as government. I look forward to reading it and discussing it with you.

On the issue of development versus protection, that one I used to feel you had to separate the responsibilities of development from protection. But the more I think about it, and the more I have worked in Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development over the years, the more I have become convinced that balancing development and environmental protection is a reality that every community has to face, whether it is a pipeline or a mine. They have got to face that. The mayor and council, or whoever it is, chief and council, have to deal with that balance. In many ways, there are advantages to having one department that helps them achieve that balance, rather than two separate departments tugging and pulling them in different directions. We certainly had examples of that in the past when you used to have Renewable Resources and Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, and both of us are of the opposite view. There are some advantages in, I think, the structure of the department even though it makes it more complex.

We did appreciate the Member's and all of the members of the standing committee's support in the Calgary trip, and we look forward to your help as we set priorities. Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. General comments. Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again, I will make some very brief comments. I appreciate the Member's recommendations. We have taken on a pretty ambitious agenda as a government, particularly not having a lot of resources. I take your advice that we have to work together with other departments, particularly Education, Culture and Employment on the basket building. We have to be creative on how we spend our limited resources. We also have to keep being creative and persistent in our efforts to have the federal government pick up its shares of the investments that are necessary. We have not given up on that one. Hopefully, we can be successful. If not, we just have to temper back our agenda a bit.

Capacity building at the communities and at the regional level is important, otherwise we will see fly-in, fly-out operations. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. I have Ms. Lee next on my list. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just to be contrary to anyone who might think I will be asking questions on the hotel tax, I am not going to ask questions or say anything about that. It is certainly not a dead horse, Mr. Chairman, I am going to keep that alive. I want to put it on record that I do not question the complexity of the mandate this department has.

All I want to see is for this department and its 421 employees do the best job it can to spend the $75 million they are asking for. I want the department to be the best it can be and do the things it is mandated to do, even if, Mr. Chairman, they have to do it without the help of women in management.

I might say, Mr. Chairman, that the Minister corrected me on their figures of women in management. It is not 0.8 percent of the total management, but it is really three out of 19 senior managers, which works out to about 15 percent. We are improving a little, but I noticed that in their latest figures, they did not have a category on women. It just does not seem they are very proud of it.

I want to make one statement. I would like to ask for an update, based on the Minister's opening comment. It says in here, Mr. Chairman, on the section on the diamond industry, the Minister talks about the department's priorities for this industry, in particular the secondary industry and so on. Diavik is experiencing quite a bit of trouble at the moment with respect to their water license. It may be that no one is feeling safe and sound that this project is going to go smoothly. I would like to hear from the Minister what the department is doing to facilitate this process. At the same time, Mr. Chairman, I wonder if the Minister could update us on the latest news on the Non-Renewable Resource Development Strategy.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Minister, would you like to respond?

I think there were two questions Ms. Lee had asked. First of all, with regard to the water license, the water license is a license that is issued by the federal government through the water board. We do not have a direct role in it because water is not within our mandate. However, with Diavik, we are concerned about some of the very stringent performance requirements that are placed on them by their draft water license. Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development did a review of the requirements and has provided a letter to Diavik outlining some of our perceptions on what is possible, what is reasonable and so on. As I say, it is not our responsibility, so it is very difficult for us to intervene in that process.

I have met with the Minister responsible for DIAND and his special envoy when he was in town. It was one of the things that he was looking at, the issue around the water license. I certainly did everything I could to have the Minister not delay in signing off the water license, assuming they could come to an agreement that is reasonable with Diavik.

The second question was about the Non-Renewable Resource Strategy. We are continuing to keep that at the top of the agenda. I think, with the help of the standing committee, we did a good job in Calgary. We had an excellent response from industry. We have been in contact. Both the Premier and I have talked this week with the Minister responsible for DIAND and the Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Paul Martin. Mr. Steen is meeting today with the Minister responsible for Transportation. Mr. Ootes is looking at meeting shortly with the Minister responsible for Human Resources Canada. We are continuing to keep this at the top of the agenda.

It takes time. It is frustrating at times. We are continuing to make sure it is there. We are focusing on the three areas of training and employment dollars, infrastructure, and business support. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. General comments? Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As my colleagues have observed, there are many areas of the department that we are asked to look at. I would like to focus on one area, the diamond industry. We have been subject to an interesting and unfortunate surge here in the Northwest Territories in the last five of six years, faced with two very distinct surges, booms if you will, in the mining sector and the upcoming oil and gas sector.

I do not want to suggest that one is better than the other, but I would like to look at the sustainability and the job quota that we can see over the long term from the diamond industry. With the announcement this week from the Jericho Developments which, although it is on the Nunavut side, I think will be relying very heavily on the Northwest Territories infrastructure to supply and build that mine, we are now looking at four very feasible projects.

I anticipate a life of 50 plus years for diamond mining in the Northwest Territories. The Minister suggested that this year, the diamond division of the department has four mandates. I wanted to support all of those. I think they are going in the right direction. I think they are going to have payoffs in the long run. However, I did want to ask the Minister a specific question. In his remarks, he referred to implementing a monitoring program for Northwest Territories diamond manufacturers. Could the Minister give us a bit more detail as to what he means by a monitoring program, and how is this going to create a value-added industry for the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be brief with my answer. The most important element of the monitoring program is to ensure that the diamonds that are being marketed as Northwest Territories or northern diamonds are really our diamonds. There is always a risk of diamonds being brought in from somewhere else and being mixed in. The real value of our diamonds is they are good quality diamonds, but second, people like them because they come from a country that has good human rights legislation, does not use child labour, they are not conflict or blood diamonds and so on. We need to make sure the industry maintains its reputation. It is all tied together with having a certification program to ensure we have a clear market for Canadian northern diamonds that will maintain its current high price, which is much higher than the average diamond. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to put one more topic forward. Anticipating these four projects are attracting and have the potential to attract hundreds of workers and provide sustainable jobs to the Northwest Territories, what kind of approach is the department considering, if any, to work with communities, other sectors of the Northwest Territories, to work with the employers to help attract and keep these people in the Northwest Territories as residents. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. I would like to recognize the clock. I would like to ask the Minister if he can provide the answer to Mr. Braden's question tomorrow when we resume this session in committee of the whole. I would like to thank the Minister and his witnesses. We will rise and report progress.

The House will come back to order. Item 21, report of committee of the whole. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Bill 1, Appropriation Act, 2000-2001, and Committee Report 1-14(3), Committee Report 2-14(3), and Committee Report 3-14(3), and would like to report progress with four motions being adopted. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of the committee of the whole be concurred with.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Do we have a seconder for the motion? The Chair recognizes the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried. Item 22, third reading of bills. Item 23, orders of the day. Mr. Clerk.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. This House stands adjourned to Friday, June 23, 2000, at 10:00 a.m.

-- ADJOURNMENT

The House adjourned at 6:10 p.m.