Colleagues, I would like to direct your attention to the presence in the visitors' gallery of a former Member of this Legislative Assembly who served in the 11th and 12th assemblies: Mr. Henry Zoe.

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He represented the riding of North Slave. Mr. Zoe, welcome. Item 4, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to recognize Cindy Gilday who is well known for the environmental battle they fought with the Deline uranium project. I would like to welcome you to the House and thank you for that effort. Thank you.

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Thank you. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome everyone who has attended the Assembly today and welcome back Mr. Zoe. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development. As I alluded to in my Member's statement, I am very concerned about the delays that our regulatory process imposes on developers looking to do business in the North. I was very upset to learn about a recent example of NTCL, a local Hay River company, losing a $2.5 million contract as a direct result of uncertainties with our regulatory process. This is not the first time I have heard of businesses just giving up in frustration after experiencing delays with our cumbersome regulatory process, in some cases delays of up to two years. Could the Minister please indicate to this House what his department and this government, as a whole, is doing to address the obvious problems of long delays in our regulatory process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. We are having temporary delays with our sound. The Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am encouraged by the fact that the Minister is indicating that they are dealing with the federal Minister on this. I certainly hope that a company like Western Geco will stay the course and be willing to come back next year. There is still no guarantee that they are going to get their permits for next year. Would the Minister indicate if he feels that a full review of the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act is warranted due to the delays that we are experiencing now?

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister of RWED, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you hear of cases whereby companies have spent enormous sums of money, and waited in some cases up to two years for their environmental assessment and their final report of the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board, only to have it sit on the federal Minister's desk for months on end before he will give his approval. Is that issue being addressed? The waiting period that it takes the Minister to address issues after it's gone through the environmental process; is there anything being done with that particular issue? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister of RWED, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Your final supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, given the process that we have in place today and the delays and, in some cases, rejection being experienced by companies applying for permits and licences for what could be considered, by comparison, very small projects, how does the Minister envision a project the size of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline ever getting off the ground in this regulatory process we have today? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister of RWED, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Deh Cho. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask some questions regarding my comments from my Member's statement, or at least the frustration that I'm feeling right now regarding the capital planning. Mr. Speaker, a number of us who represent smaller communities have recognized and have received now our copies of the capital plan for the next five years, and it's quite frustrating to see in my case a whole winter's work, many, many meetings all go down the drain. The slate is just practically wiped clean. Yet, when we look at some of the budgets for the Ministers, they're still managing to hang on to some of their projects. There seems to be a different approach when we have Regular Members versus Ministers. I would like to ask the Minister of FMB to explain the difference between how a regular Member gets an item put on the capital plan, versus how a Minister gets an item put on the capital plan. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for FMB, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The process for getting items onto the capital plan is the same for all of us. The communities' needs are identified. Through the business planning process, recommendations are made to us. We review it during the business planning review, and then the main estimates are eventually voted. But it's exactly the same for regular MLAs as it is for Cabinet Ministers. Thank you.