Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Member is correct in that we haven't had an economic development agreement since 1996. Other jurisdictions, Atlantic Canada and also the western economic diversification program, do have EDAs and certainly we feel that we have been short-changed in this regard and have been making that point to the federal government. Our predecessors were making that point. We continue to make the point.

Last week, I sat down with the Parliamentary Secretary to the DIAND Minister, Larry Bagnell. I had a chance to meet with him to discuss an EDA. I know that many of you saw the signalling in the Throne speech of this northern strategy. We had a good chance to talk about the northern strategy. My feeling was this should be comprised of not only an EDA, but certainly an EDA should be involved. He indicated to me that he is touring our territory and also Nunavut and Yukon in order to build up a knowledge base and understanding on what our needs are. We made sure he was able to be involved in a meeting with a coalition of business people here locally while he was here to understand our challenges, to understand the need for infrastructure and to hear the message not only from our government, but from our industry partners, from our small business partners, that we do need an EDA. Certainly we expect that by this summer, after he's done the bulk of his work and gone around and surveyed various stakeholders, that he will be able to come forward and put something concrete forward that would look at an EDA for the North, not just the Northwest Territories, but Yukon and Nunavut as well. We hope that it's significant. We hope that it's substantial. We hope there is maximum flexibility for that money. We don't want something that's too rigid that really ties our hands and doesn't allow us to flow money where we think it's most needed. Certainly we hope there aren't added administrative mechanisms that come part and parcel with this money, because the last thing we need is more administrative overhead when we are trying to flow more money into communities and make sure more money hits the ground. We've made those points to the Minister. We will continue to make those points to the Minister. I am optimistic and hopeful that we will see an EDA. I think it's a long time coming.