Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, the draft Greenhouse Gas Strategy is at the printers. We expect to have it back by March 1st and available to all Members as quickly as we get it back. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, could the Minister indicate to this House whether this particular strategy will tie in as well to some of the other broad strategies that the government has talked about, such as electrical transmission, the issue of regulatory reform, all of which tie in to the whole issue and the consumption of energy, the amount of emissions and greenhouse gases that are emitted in the NWT? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, this Greenhouse Gas Strategy will tie in with the other initiatives that have been undertaken, including the 13 energy efficiency initiatives that were part of the programs and services review exercise they went through.

The Greenhouse Gas Strategy has been developed with the support of, I think, about 40 different agencies, including the Power Corporation, government, industry, aboriginal organizations and so on. It sets out a plan of action that is proposed to do two things. One is to begin to do things that will control greenhouse gas emissions in the Northwest Territories and, second, to dovetail those with the national Greenhouse Gas Strategy, so that as Northerners we are doing our share but at the same time not being penalized in any way, or being given unreasonable expectations as a result of a national strategy. This has to tie in there. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as has been said in this House at a different time, a strategy without any adequate resources is just a slogan. I would like to ask the Minister, will there be resources required to implement the strategy and will those resources be available? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, the strategy, as it will be presented after it comes back from the printers, hopefully on March 1st, is a draft strategy. I intend to use it, assuming we get feedback that is positive and does not cause us to make major changes, as one of the backup documents as we prepare our business plans for the next fiscal year. For the 2001-02 fiscal year, we have some money but very limited. As we prepare for our next round of main estimates, this document will be a key one in giving us some direction and where we should be setting our priorities in Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development. Thank you.

Thank you. Your final supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, could the Minister indicate how soon after March 1st, or a date that is close to that, when the draft comes off the printing press will the committees and Regular Members be able to see the document, as it is a very important piece of the plan? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, if the committees want a copy of it, I would be happy to give that today if you want to have it. I could do it right away. However, the nicely printed one that will be going out for consultation will not be available until March.

Mr. Speaker, I will take the question as being a request for it and I will provide a copy to the committee. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, the federal government would not be able to claw it back under the current formula agreement. The reason for putting it into a trust is primarily to assure the public that this money is going to be used for upgrading, repair and so on of the existing highway system; that it is not going to be used somewhere else. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Bell.

Thank you. So under our current agreement then, I will take it that tolls going into a trust cannot be clawed back, but taxes can. The Minister explained that this will give public assurance that the money will actually be spent on highways. Why did not he consider this with the hotel tax? Why not a hotel toll that could not be clawed back, that would be put into a trust and spent on tourism? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, just for clarity, if we introduce a new tax, the federal government cannot claw it back. So if we introduce, for example, a new hotel tax, it will not be clawed back during this financing agreement with the federal government. If we increase an existing tax, then that is subject to claw back. So it would not matter if we called it a hotel toll or a hotel tax, it would not be clawed back for the life of this agreement. What happens in the next agreement, of course, is dependent on our success in negotiations. So calling it a toll would not change anything. The proposed hotel tax will not be clawed back either during the life of this agreement. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, but my understanding is that, as he mentioned, the hotel tax would be clawed back when our new agreement starts, which is only a couple of short years away. Do we have any assurance that they will not do the same with the toll no matter whether we put the money into the trust? We may be borrowing $60 million, $70 million or $80 million on the premise that we can get the money back with tolls. What if they claw it back? What does Mr. Handley proposed to do then?