Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There's quite a bit of history here; a number of meetings and discussions at several levels in our government with federal colleagues. I also had discussions with Minister Blondin-Andrew and Minister Scott. Collectively the three territories initially believed, and there's probably still some belief, that the money should be turned over to the territorial governments, there should be bilateral contributions. We believe we have the vehicles to deliver the program funding. The federal government was insistent this was a federal program, they weren't prepared to devolve. They do want to maintain the authority to make the decisions on which programs get funded and how this money is going to be rolled out. That said, Mr. Speaker, we are just, at this point, happy to see the economic development money will be delivered in the North. We do want to be involved in the program delivery as much as possible, but clearly it's a federal program and we aren't in control of it at this point. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Brendan Bell on Question 570-15(3): Federal Economic Development Funding
In the Legislative Assembly on March 8th, 2005. See this statement in context.
Further Return To Question 570-15(3): Federal Economic Development Funding
Question 570-15(3): Federal Economic Development Funding
Item 6: Oral Questions
March 7th, 2005
Page 1870
See context to find out what was said next.