Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is our government's first attempt at getting out in front of this file. We generally understand and recognize that we are likely to see a filing by the proponents this summer, likely not in the fall, not next spring but this summer. I can state categorically that we are not ready for it. I hear the Members' concerns. I hear Mr. Ramsay's question about where the coordination is. As a government, we are not out in front of this with a coordinated approach to dealing with this pipeline and oil and gas development in the valley. That's why we need this office. If you look at the mandate of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline office, and I will reiterate the mandate here for Members: "To coordinate and facilitate government-wide planning and results reporting on all GNWT activities." Those include the activities of social program departments. It's also to provide support and advice in order to facilitate high level strategic planning of both the deputy ministers' Pipeline Steering Committee, and I will reiterate that the deputy ministers of social program departments were involved in the organizational development of this office and also the joint Cabinet and AOC Pipeline Planning Committee, this joint body that we have that is going to provide strategic advice in how to cope with all issues related to the development of this pipeline, including social issues, and provide us advice as a government on how to mitigate
some of the social impacts that we'll see from this development. It will also liaise at a senior government level with industry, with the federal government offices, the pipeline readiness office, the Northern Gas Secretariat, with NWT communities and with aboriginal governments. It will have an external and internal information communication management responsibility and it will coordinate, Mr. Chairman, the negotiation of nine separate impacts and benefit agreements with the Producers Group and lead the development of these mandates.
If you take a look at the positions, one of the positions is coordinator of interdepartmental planning. That's not coordinator of economic development department planning. It's coordinator of interdepartmental planning for the GNWT. Will ECE and Health be involved? Yes. It's important that we are on the same page and that we understand how GNWT programs are being developed and being delivered and that this is done in a cohesive and coordinated manner.
Another one of the positions is an agreement specialist. This person will be responsible for providing technical advice and doing a lot of work on socioeconomic agreement development stuff. What we are talking about here are training opportunities, business opportunities, jobs. We've been through this. I think we all recognize exactly how important the socioeconomic agreements are to us in terms of the diamond mines. To ignore this aspect of this pipeline project and to suggest that we don't need this office and we don't need anybody to coordinate and to work on these agreements I think is short sighted, Mr. Chairman.
We currently have two-and-a-half positions in this government. We have an ADM of Mackenzie Valley pipeline, we have a senior advisor and we have a half-time executive secretary to try to coordinate all of our government programs and services and try to see if we can't find our way through the regulatory process and support communities and support our other aboriginal government projects in being ready for this development. This is a $7.6 billion project coming and we have two-and-a-half positions in terms of getting the anchor fields ready for that pipeline.
So, yes, we are talking about $850,000 here. Yes, we are engaging in austerity measures in many other aspects of what we do as a government, but this is critical, Mr. Chairman. We have to spend this money, I would suggest. I hear the Members asking for us to find this internally. We simply can't. I would urge Members to give that serious consideration when we are thinking about this motion. We are faced with a filing this summer and we are not ready. I think when the Members ask where is the coordination, what we are telling you is that at this point we are not coordinated as a government and we need some resources in order to do that and this is what we are working toward. Thank you.