Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, as you are aware, the department has put water and sewer projects as a priority of the department. We at times fund on a 50/50 basis, so we are again at that limit to assist that community. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Allen. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister inform us as to any areas that community governments can tap into from the department if they are going to do any large developments, especially referring to tax-based municipalities? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, the tax-based communities are expected to fund their own projects, but this time we are again in consultation with the tax-based municipalities who are under severe impacts. We will continue to speak to them and ensure that we will be able to be in a position to assist once those specific projects are identified. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. No supplementary. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There has been agreement, I believe, by this Legislature that we will proceed with development in a well thought-out way. That is reflected in the agenda. I believe there was support following the unanimous motion of support given by the aboriginal leadership in January of 2000. There was a direction of support given by this Legislature in March, I believe, but we would have to look back on the Hansard for that statement of support.

I have taken the unanimous motion, which was followed by signatures of every chief and Metis and Inuvialuit leader in the Northwest Territories, in support of the motion that came out of Liard in January of 2000. It was followed by a memorandum of understanding in June that led to the establishment of the Aboriginal Pipeline Working Group.

That has been the mandate and the direction that I have followed. I believe I have followed it very well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Premier has indicated, the aboriginal leaders declared unanimous support in January, 2000. However, since that time, some regions and communities have voiced concern, especially from the Deh Cho and some from the Sahtu, over the issue of the pipeline. I would like to ask the Minister if he is going to continue to lobby and promote a pipeline without full support at any cost on this issue. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I take the motion from Fort Liard as a credible motion. It was done, I have always said, at a moment when unanimously united, the aboriginal leaders demonstrated an extremely high level of confidence. They proposed to work towards a pipeline, without articulating all the terms and conditions under which they would propose such a project. I have always said that I think it points to the high level of confidence that this demonstrated amongst the aboriginal leadership.

Since then, I have seen the level of confidence has perhaps diminished among some of the leaders in the Deh Cho. It is still unprecedented, in my view, that for well over a year and a half, that level of confidence was demonstrated.

The Deh Cho has indicated that they are now apparently no longer for or against, but have said that they have some terms and conditions before they would be willing to support development of a pipeline. There is still an application yet to be made of anyone proposing to build a pipeline. The terms and conditions that the Deh Cho articulated two years ago are terms and conditions that I think this government will support and will work with the Deh Cho to achieve.

While some leaders in the Deh Cho may have indicated they are no longer as supportive as they were, we do not see this as any reason to continue anything but full support for seeing the development of an application to build a pipeline down the Mackenzie Valley. Once an application is made, I believe everyone will come out with their terms and conditions under which that application should be considered. Anything before is simply pre-empting the process. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we now have two groups in the Northwest Territories with two different concepts of ownership. We have the Aboriginal Pipeline Group and the Arctic Resources Group. They are both promoting two different concepts of ownership of how these pipelines should be owned. This government has a policy regarding market disruption. I would like to ask the Premier if this will cause a problem with funding in the future as there are now two groups.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. I would be cautious about the type of question. I think you are looking at a response that the Minister will have to look into the future for. I will allow you to rephrase that, if you wish, Mr. McLeod, so it is not a hypothetical question.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will ask a different question. The decision to build a pipeline will be a private sector decision made by the producers. However, it is important that we maintain the unity we had in January. I would like to ask the Minister if he has any plans on how to bring the aboriginal groups back together. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The aboriginal leadership had followed their motion in Fort Liard of January, 2000, with a subsequent decision in June, which saw the mandate of a special group that would look at the business terms and conditions under which to partner with possible groups to see the development of a proposal for a pipeline that could be then seen through the filing of an application. The pipeline working group has a political mandate, and it has been duly mandated by the aboriginal leadership of the Northwest Territories. So this government has given support to that.

The aboriginal pipeline working group has worked specifically with the Delta producers to bring Canadian Delta gas within the Northwest Territories down the Mackenzie Valley.

There is another proposal being bandied about publicly. We have never seen any documentation giving any credibility or substance to it, which suggests that if they could ever get it, they would like to take Alaskan gas down over the top and down the Mackenzie Valley. That is a different proposal altogether.

There is no identifiable group proposing this. It is seen as a largely private initiative by some individuals, all on the assumption that it could be financed and that there is merit in looking at 100 percent ownership by aboriginal groups, and that it is all predicated on the assumption that the Alaskan producers will allow their gas to be put into such a pipe. It is a different scenario and a different proposal altogether. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Final supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask a question on the funding again. There are now two groups out there promoting a pipeline. Will this government be funding both organizations?

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development is the Minister that is responsible for dealing with these types of issues, but in our view, and I think it has been said that there is no other group out there that has the endorsement of the majority of the aboriginal leadership. There is no mandate. There is no credibility given at this time to another group for whatever proposal.

We have talked to some sources in Ottawa, the producers of the Alaskan gas field, as well as the Delta producers, the oil and gas and the pipeline companies in Calgary, and none of them, as far as we know, give any credence or credibility to this other proposal, if you want to call it that.

At this time, we believe it is imperative that all of us continue to encourage the producers and the aboriginal groups to work to develop a single proposal to bring Delta gas down the Mackenzie Valley as soon as possible under terms and conditions that the aboriginal groups will continue to support. Once an application is made, it will become important that we stay united to make sure that there is an application made to bring Canadian gas, Delta gas, NWT gas, down the Mackenzie Valley as soon as possible.

I believe that once that is secured, then it will become economically and politically more viable for the Alaskan producers to suggest that since a pipeline is possibly and potentially going to be built down the Mackenzie Valley in any event, they would propose to support it. They would see that a pipeline is going to be built anyway and that it would be more economical for them to link up with the proposed Mackenzie Valley route to bring their gas to market.

That is the thinking, and that anything else that would delay getting our act together, anything that would look like we are fractured and divided, we are running around in circles, will certainly give the Alaskan politicians an upper hand. In the end, I think that would completely do a disservice to everyone in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.