Mr. Speaker, I'm not sure that it's my place to write a letter on behalf of the Legislative Assembly asking someone to come and appear here. I'm the Premier for the government, but I can't assume over here. So, Mr. Speaker, again I'll say that I think the proper way of doing it is through the committees and I would urge whichever committee the Members feel is appropriate to do a letter to the Minister responsible, the Minister of ITI or myself, asking that we appear or that we invite the mine managers to appear there. Mr. Speaker, as far as having someone come into Committee of the Whole here, that's an issue that I think would have to be discussed among all of the Members. I would not want to take that upon myself without consulting with all Members. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd just like to touch on my earlier Member's statement about the transfer of the North Slave office staff to Behchoko. Mr. Speaker, this government is contradicting itself when it recognizes the Tlicho Government but it does not have the regional offices with decision-making powers in the Tlicho region. Mr. Speaker, it's time this government sees these decision-makers to be in the communities. Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Premier. Can the Premier explain how over a year this government continues to ignore the self-government of the Tlicho by refusing to move these decision-making powers to the Tlicho region? How long do we have to wait? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's an interesting proposal to have more of the North Slave region located in Behchoko. Mr. Speaker, it's something I'd want to think about. It's something I'd like to take a look at the load of the North Slave offices and various departments. I know their responsibility is certainly for the Tlicho people. It's also for the Akaitcho and for the North Slave, Metis in the North Slave and Yellowknife in some cases as well. So, Mr. Speaker, it's an interesting one. There's nothing saying everything has to be in Yellowknife. Certainly we'll take a look at it.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm glad the department will certainly look into this matter. It's very important to us in the Tlicho riding. We know the services for the region are not appropriate as long as they are delivered at headquarters in Yellowknife. It makes a difference having all the GNWT departments including the Executive represented locally by senior managers. So, Mr. Speaker, my question again to the Premier is how he will ensure that GNWT services for the Tlicho region allow for the building of relationships between the GNWT and the Tlicho Government and for the GNWT staff to be familiar with our culture of the Tlicho communities? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, our people are working on a protocol right now and there have been regular meetings between our departments that are involved delivering services in the Tlicho with the Tlicho governance. So, Mr. Speaker, we want to continue with that and I think it's something we're working on and something that means some dialogue both ways. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we did make progress in this House a while back. I supported the government when the Department of Executive introduced the regional director positions so there could be a better link between the GNWT residents in the region and government headquarters. So can the Premier explain why even these regional directors of our North Slave region are located at the headquarters in Yellowknife? How can this position support the region if it is located in Yellowknife? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said before, I recognize the amount of work and time that's spent working with the Tlicho people, and also have to balance the responsibilities of the North Slave executive offices and other departments with the work they're doing with the Akaitcho and the Metis and the other people in this area. But, Mr. Speaker, I will take a look at it, I will take a look at what the workload is, and certainly we have no hesitation about moving offices to Behchoko if the work and the economics of it really work out. We'd have to look at office space and housing and so on as well. But, Mr. Speaker, I'm certainly not against that. Everything doesn't have to be in headquarters. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Final supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's been an issue of the gravel road to the community of Behchoko and there was a huge concern and safety issue for the departments, I guess the executive or the senior staff to be in Behchoko, to be allocated. Anyway, I would like to ask the Premier, because that's not an excuse anymore, but if he's willing to work with us, that's good, I appreciate that. Can the Premier make a commitment in this House to add these changes, whether it be capital plans '07 or business planning, to transfer these North Slave staff to Behchoko as a regional headquarter for the Tlicho region? I realize there is work that needs to be in place, but can we foresee that in '07? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, if there was office space there, if there was housing and there was no additional cost to us, then I'd want to talk to the staff about why this couldn't happen. Now, I have to respect that we just hired a regional director. I don't know his commitments in Yellowknife; that's where he was living, I believe, when we hired him. But, Mr. Speaker, as I said to the Member, I'll take a look at it and if everything is there and it costs us no additional money, then I'm not against it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to the Minister of the environment and it's in regards to the many issues facing the Northwest Territories in terms of resource development, the enormous pressures from every corner in terms of on the environment, on water, on our wildlife. I'll just ask the Minister if he could indicate to us his sense of the role that proper stewardship of the environment has to play as the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Given that question, I take it the grace period for this new portfolio is over. Mr. Speaker, I've taken a look at the number of issues across the board, I listened to the Member as he spoke the other day about the concerns for the environment, for the air, for the water, for a number of different things that are affecting our wildlife, and I also heard very clearly today when the Member mentioned there are issues that don't recognize boundaries. I've been having discussions with our staff in the last couple hours about how do we approach this, and I'm going to take the opportunity to take a good look at what work has already been done. I have seen some of the work in terms of plans and action plans that were drafted by the previous Minister. I think there's a lot of it that is very comprehensive. I am of the opinion that we can't operate with issues being looked at in isolation. We have to look at cumulative effects; we have to look at what's on the horizon in terms of development; and I would like to work towards developing a broad outlook of how we approach this thing so a big picture approach is taken. Having said that, we also have to look at what resources are available. So there's a lot of things that we're working on and trying to digest in short order, and we'll be keeping the Members informed as we progress. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the most fundamental issues is the one of water that I spoke about earlier as well, and I referenced the Mackenzie basin board. I would like to ask the Minister, as he goes through his briefings and looks at the role of the board and the issue of water, whether he would consider as Minister of one of the involved jurisdictions, the other ones being Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan, the Yukon, and take the lead in terms of bringing together the Ministers for the first time to talk about the issue of water as it pertains to the Mackenzie basin board? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. McLeod.