Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to provide my colleagues with an update on recent activities the department has undertaken, in partnership with other stakeholders to assist Northwest Territories communities to prepare for the Mackenzie gas project and to outline our next steps.

Community leaders have raised important questions, issues and concerns about the impact of the Mackenzie gas project on Northwest Territories communities. The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs is working to assist community government to prepare for and benefit from this large-scale project.

In December 2004, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, together with Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development and the Northwest Territories Association of Communities, hosted a conference of community leaders in Inuvik. I was happy to see several of my colleagues in attendance at the conference; more than one-third of the Members of the Assembly joined us to discuss issues facing communities as they prepare for their regulatory review process.

Two key objectives were set for the conference:

• • to provide affected communities with a clear outline of the environmental assessment and regulatory review process; and,
• • to identify common issues and concerns and approaches to address them in partnership with industry, other communities, the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Northwest Territories Association of Communities.

The conference report is available on Municipal and Community Affairs' web site, and copies have also been mailed to all conference participants.

The report summarizes information that was provided to and shared by communities as well as issues communities may face during the regulatory review process, strategies to address the issues and next steps for communities and governments.

The recommendation for next steps includes ways communities can prepare for the review process and options to ensure community governments have resources to participate effectively.

Communities are also encouraged to assess what the impacts of the project could be and then negotiate agreements that mitigate the negative impacts that maximize the positive ones.

The GNWT also has steps to take to assist communities to move forward with the conference resolutions and to advance the strategies discussed by community leaders.

In this regard, community leaders recommended the GNWT organize follow-up meetings, including a similar conference to examine potential social impacts.

MACA will prepare tools such as draft bylaws for communities to consider using to regulate industrial activity in their communities and will continue to assist communities with capacity challenges, as and when they are requested.

To date, I have flagged the concerns of public community governments around accessing participant funding with Deputy Prime Minister, the Honourable Anne McLellan, and have communicated the additional pressure that the pipeline places on community infrastructure with the Honourable John Godfrey, the Minister of State for Infrastructure and Communities and the Honourable Stephane Dion, the Minister of the Environment.

I also had the opportunity to meet with my colleagues in Norman Wells in February at a meeting of the Joint Cabinet/AOC Pipeline Planning Committee to discuss our broad plans for moving ahead in partnership with community governments. I look forward to providing my colleagues with additional information on this issue as our work progresses. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause