Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to pick up where I left off with my statement. That is to talk about the secondary diamond industry here in the Northwest Territories and the fact that, to date, on the Sirius deal, this government has lost $3 million. That is all I can talk about today with the government, is the fact that we have lost $3 million, but I just want to say that it is going to end up costing the government substantially more than that, Mr. Speaker.
As a preamble, what I understand is that we have a socioeconomic agreement with BHP. Whether the 10 percent allotment of rough diamonds is contained in that socioeconomic agreement, I don't think it is. What we do have, Mr. Speaker, is a written agreement from BHP to supply 10 percent of rough to northern manufacturers. We also have an understanding from Rio to supply rough to northern manufacturers. What I would like to ask, Mr. Speaker, if the Leviev Group, who went through the receiver, submitted a proposal to purchase the Sirius plant as a going concern and met all of the GNWT's due diligence work on whether or not they could be deemed a northern manufacturer and, as such, were deemed a northern manufacturer by the Government of the Northwest Territories, why did they subsequently fail in the negotiations with both producers to get a supply of rough diamonds, Mr. Speaker? The concern I have is whether these agreements we have with our producers actually hold any water, and what involvement did the government have in trying to see these negotiations through to completion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.