Mahsi, Mr. Nitah. The Chair was a little flexible in your numbers of topics. I noticed that there were three different items. The Chair noticed and will deduct them from your next Member's statements in February.

-- Laughter

Item 4, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to speak on one of the Minister's statements. It was a little difficult as I sat here, there was a flurry of Minister's statements that came across, being the last day that we will be in this forum it is disappointing that we will not have a chance to do many questions on this area, but sometimes Cabinet has a well-oiled machine and they seem to have gotten the timing right on the last day, the last chance to ask some questions.

My concern is around the fiscal update, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we were just informed by the Minister's own words that over a year ago we were predicting a surplus of $160 million and now we are looking at a deficit of $104 million for 2002-2003.

Mr. Speaker, that is of great concern. A number of us in this House, when we first got together, were very concerned about the fact that we, as a government, find ourselves in a situation where we would run out of dollars to operate the programs and services that are existing in the Northwest Territories.

We were told, and the Minister said on many occasions, that here in the Northwest Territories as we operate, Members are all a part of the decision-making process. Yes, Mr. Speaker, and our decisions are as good as the information we are provided.

Part of the sales pitch, Mr. Speaker, on adapting this fiscal strategy is the fact that we have so much potential out there. The economic development is huge in the Northwest Territories. The potential of getting more from resources through sharing of those revenues that are developed out of the resource development sector.

Mr. Speaker, although the prospects of our resources remain extremely high and bright as the Minister states, that is very accurate. The problem is we will see little of that as the government of the Northwest Territories and aboriginal governments unless we get the funding from the federal government.

We were told on many occasions in this House that that was coming, that things were happening. Unfortunately now, Mr. Speaker, we are told that even though devolution negotiations are ongoing, the fact that they do not have the mandate to discuss the fiscal situation of the Northwest Territories and in light of that, Mr. Speaker, it is disappointing and residents will not be able to see...

Mr. Roland, the time for your Member's statement has ended. Mr. Roland, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Thank you. The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Hopefully I do not continue this without unanimous consent. I thank my colleagues. Just in concluding, Mr. Speaker, that the residents of the Northwest Territories will now have difficulties in trying to find out what our plans are until February when we get a chance to sit down and look at the budget of this government. Until then, as Members are aware, we are going to be in the dark once again as to what potential activities are out there and how we can address them with our constituents.

The one thing that is bright on this side is that with the news we now have we can go back to our constituents and see what input and suggestions they might have for this government. Thank you.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 4, Members' statements. The honourable Member for the Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to make some comments on the matter of impact benefit agreements and what they mean to the people who rely on them as the basis for opportunities. Mr. Speaker, a question frequently asked of me by my constituents is, what are impact benefit agreements and what good are impact benefit agreements if jobs, business opportunities and resources are still going south and not to the communities impacted by development?

What recourse if any does a community or region have if it only receives the benefit of opportunities by the good graces of the company undertaking the development? The legal implications of impact benefit agreements appears to be set in a void of uncertainty. It is a gray area that wets the appetite of a community but may not allow them to eat, thereby leaving a sour taste in their mouth.

Legislation such as the Canadian Petroleum Resources Act and the Canadian Oil and Gas Operations Act specifies a requirement for companies to consider providing communities with employment and business opportunities. This requirement has no teeth. It appears to be a mere formality and means with which to eliminate any meaningful participation by northern people and businesses in resource development.

The whole issue of impact benefit agreements between aboriginal peoples and resource developers is shrouded in secrecy and mystery. To what extent are these resource companies providing opportunities to people of the North? Who is monitoring the promises made in these agreements? What recourse, if any, does a party to an agreement possess if the company fails to deliver such promises?

Mr. Speaker, the validity of these agreements is questionable as the requirement to deliver opportunities is based only on the best efforts which really means we tried and could not deliver therefore we go south for services. The federal government under the Canadian Oil and Gas Operations Act has the authority to require compliance with any requirement of the act. Failing such compliance, could in essence cancel the interest.

Mr. Speaker, history has demonstrated that the government will always place the company ahead of the community. So where does this leave the community when the federal government is not willing to enforce its own legislation?

Mr. Speaker, it is evident that the legal nature of impact benefit agreements is confusing and uncertain. As a northern territory made up of land owners who have an inherent right, it is imperative that...

Mr. McLeod, your time for your Member's statement is over. Mr. McLeod, you have the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Thank you. The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his Member's statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and colleagues. Mr. Speaker, as a northern territory made up of land owners who have inherent rights, it is imperative that this government work with the communities. Most importantly those in non-settled claim areas by providing them with the required human and financial resources which will allow informed and effective negotiations when it comes into entering into impact benefit agreements. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 4, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Given that that while it is the first day, but the last day we will be sitting for a while, and I will be taking my time to talk to my constituents over the next days and weeks, I know that one of the most important things I will be doing in the next while is to attend the Remembrance service in ten days time.

Mr. Speaker, at the ceremony I will be laying a wreath on behalf of the veterans of the Korean War, of which there are a few in Yellowknife. Mr. Speaker, I will be taking my time to honour and remember those who have served for our country and lost their lives in conflict and battlegrounds around the world in order that we have the freedom that we do to debate the issues.

Mr. Speaker, the Korean War had a great impact on the country and I do not know if everybody knows, but over 26,000 Canadians served in the Korean War and Canada was the third largest contingent, only smaller than the United States and the United Kingdom. As I stated in the House before, there were 73 aboriginal members who served in the Korean War.

As I reflect on a lot of things that happen in this House and I look forward to going out to the community and visiting my constituents and explaining what is happening, I think that the Remembrance service will give me a special time to reflect on lots of rights and freedoms that we enjoy and we exercise and that we are grateful for.

I would like to also take this time, if I am not totally out of line, to thank the staff for a lot of hard work they have done to make the work possible. I wish the Members very well until the next time I see you. Thank you.

-- Applause

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Item 4, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was not going to do a Member's statement today, but I have been a little motivated here I guess to speak to the quality of information that we are receiving on this side of the House and it is certainly a theme that I have been discussing earlier in the session.

We did not seem to get much in the way of Ministers' statements in this session until today when we get a veritable wheelbarrow full of them, and a couple of my colleagues have already commented on this, Mr. Speaker. The difficulty here is that the information we are seeking needs to be timely, it needs to be accurate and it needs to be relevant or we cannot offer the public what they need, and that is a chance to scrutinize the information that our government is providing, Mr. Speaker.

Clearly we need to know how the government is tackling the major issues of the day. If I go through the Ministers' statements, and I will just take the Health Minister's statement first, Mr. Speaker, he talks about the commitment he has made to provide regular reporting on our progress. He is tabling a report, which is great and I will take a look at that, but unfortunately we are not going to have much time to question the Minister in this session now because we are almost on our way out the door. He says that this plan will speak to the recruitment and retention plan, good to see it, but that will deal with immediate and longer term staffing shortages. With all due respect, Mr. Speaker, immediate was about two months ago.

If I look at the fiscal update that we have been clamouring for on this side of the House for the last couple of weeks, and let me be clear, Mr. Speaker, the fiscal update is simply a snapshot of where we are at a time -- a time which looks to me like we have been here for the last few months, and I cannot understand why we did not get this information earlier. The convention has been that every time this House sits we get a fiscal update and, as I have said before, there is no expectation that the Finance Minister has all the answers or has the detailed plan all worked out by the time he comes to the public, but we think it is only fair that we are forthright and honest about our fiscal situation.

Mr. Speaker, the last fiscal update indicated we had a deficit of $12 million for 2002-2003. It is now $104 million. I can tell you that if this was the private sector and you provided no guidance going forward, and then came out with earnings that absolutely disappointed like this, your stock would tank, Mr. Speaker. That is the kind of thing that I think this government fails to grasp.

I look at the devolution negotiations update that we received, Mr. Speaker, and it speaks to the process which commenced on September 26th, a month ago. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Thank you. The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his Member's statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had initially intended to make my best efforts not to complain today, especially given the comments that our Commissioner made. I think she had some very good things to say for us. However, I am frustrated and I think our constituents are frustrated about the lack of timeliness of information that we are getting from this government. There is nothing in this devolution negotiation statement that we did not know a month ago. There is nothing in the fiscal update that we have not known for some time. The whispered number on the street, as we indicated, was a $60 million deficit. That was ages ago, Mr. Speaker, and we never even addressed it publicly. We just ignored it until now when we start to talk about $104 million.

Mr. Speaker, I think I just to need to reiterate that we need timely information because even if it is accurate, if we do not get it in time it is not longer relevant. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Item 4, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Steen, we hope there is more treating than tricks. Item 4, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since this will be the last day in the Assembly until our next scheduled sitting in early February 2003, I would like to express to the constituents in my riding of Inuvik Twin Lakes that I will be travelling home in the next few months to follow up on the many issues that remain unresolved. It is my intention to work along with yourselves to finalize what we had started out and tried to accomplish collectively. For that, I will continue to employ your full time constituency office in Inuvik at Ingamo Hall where you can contact my office for updated information, or where issues are that are so important to know about.

I also look forward to spending some time during the Christmas holidays, along with my family, in Inuvik. I wanted particularly to send all best wishes to those who plan to remain on the land to pursue trapping as an interest. My colleague from Inuvik Boot Lake and I will be putting out a joint newsletter to keep all residents of Inuvik informed of our joint efforts to ensure that the projects for Inuvik reach fruition as scheduled in the 14th Assembly. With that, I would like to wish my constituents well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Allen. Item 4, Members' statements. The honourable Member Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Ootes.