Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think you can see from the appreciation of other Members, that the Member has indeed made several good points about the future of this government, the future role for this department. I think there are a number of initiatives that are global in nature that we do have to embrace and recognize that it's up to us to advocate the interests of residents of the Northwest Territories. We can't expect that even through some of our other circumpolar memberships or partnerships or our relationship with the Canadian government that our interest will be looked after. I think that's why we put so much open in the devolution or control of lands and resources process. I think we want the control to say in terms of how future development happens.
We know that, as the Member has pointed out, we are living with past legacies of federal control when we look at issues and situations like the Giant Mine storage of arsenic and the problems we have at the surface.
I think Members know that I have talked recently about our Greenhouse Gas Strategy, which was developed. We are bringing that up to date and we are not only focussed on emissions, which I think are important, but also focussed on climate change adaptation. Climate change is a reality. We do have to ensure that we understand how to best adapt and change with this warming trend to ensure that our infrastructure and other things like that are taking into account the changing climate.
You mentioned ANWR and Kyoto. ANWR is a hot topic of debate and probably going forward to elicit lots of interest and discussion in this House as the United States seeks to pass an energy bill and whether or not ANWR drilling is in or out of that energy bill, it will be a topic of discussion. Some recent media speculation that some of the oil and gas companies have backed away from ANWR and discussion of drilling because they feel that there are other targets around the globe that make more sense for them at this point. But at some point, even if there is some delay or deferral, this will be back on the table for discussion. It's important that we weigh in and make sure that the voices of northerners are heard in this process.
Kyoto is important as well. If we look at our emissions as a territory, that's important, but we feel we are bringing on development of cleaner fuels that will help relieve some pressure on the national global account in terms of more carbon intensive sources of fuel. We would like to displace more of those.
There are a whole range of issues. I agree with the Member, we aren't an island. We see that probably most pointedly in climate change. We are forced to react now, not because of our own doing and we do have to continue to insist that the federal government clean up some of the messes that there are these we are currently dealing with locally that they were responsible for and continue to be responsible for. I take the Member's points. We will certainly take that way and I appreciate her comments and input. Thank you.