Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, last week in Victoria when the joint Ministers of the Environment and Energy from the provinces and the federal government got together, I participated in representing the Northwest Territories. As a result of the meeting, it is an ongoing process here where the federal government is going through a consultation process throughout the country to meet with different stakeholders such as industry, environmental groups and aboriginal groups to see what kind of position Canada should take with regard to the Kyoto Protocol with respect to the global warming issue.

We as the Government of the Northwest Territories have supported and continue to support the federal government to sign the Kyoto Protocol. However, there are different jurisdictions that are realizing the costs they would incur in trying to comply with the Kyoto Protocol. Therefore, there was talk of a letter that Premier Klein had presented to the Prime Minister during the Team Canada trip, and the Alberta contingent wanted a reply to this letter that contained about nine different points.

However, the agreement is to continue talking and to go through the consultation process. There is another meeting lined up for May to carry on with it, and this would be probably after the conclusion of most of the consultation talks with the different stakeholders. It is an ongoing process. Canada is still interested in pursuing it and there are still a lot of jurisdictions interested in pursuing support for the Canadian government to sign the Kyoto Protocol. Thank you.