Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I must say I was very happy to see a spontaneous debate break out in this House last week about opportunities for future social housing in the North, precisely the kind of issues that should get us all rolling up our sleeves and looking at the pros and cons of any idea that comes before us.

As well, as I have said many times before, I agree with all the MLAs in this House that the need for social housing in our territory has reached a crisis proportion. In our travels, there is nothing else more urgent, and my colleagues, especially from the small communities, are doing their job well by fighting hard to make something happen for social housing and I support them in that endeavour.

What we should keep in mind, though, Mr. Speaker, is we should keep in mind that together with the help of the federal government and private sector, this government is coming to the table with a lot of money and influence for the benefit of any company who would get this deal, and it's about time that this government started playing hardball on all of its files and stop sending comfort letters and comfort contracts, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Mr. Speaker, it's time this government starts talking about what the companies can do for us, instead of spending

our budget and influence talking about what we can do for one company. We must not be satisfied with promises of northern participation of business and labour. We must see concrete deals in writing for our people. I would like to see, for example, a northern training centre being built out of this project.

Mr. Speaker, surely $500 million should make any company in the world sit up and take notice. Any company who gets to build housing for Imperial stands to make nothing but money; stands to make nothing but money. They'll get the $235 million from Imperial; $40 million plus for the premium; they'll have backup from this government and the federal government to the tune of $200 million plus, and they will have this government developing some very scarce lots. For this, I'd like to see much more for the northerners.

Anyone who wants to build 10 houses for this government would have to go through a competitive bidding process. Government says that ATCO is investing $10 million on this idea and they're doing their part. Well, Mr. Speaker, Imperial Oil plans to invest seven to nine billion into the Territories and they're going through a three-year public regulatory process. Surely any company who would be hired to build housing for 25,000 workers and turn those housing into 1,400 mobile homes needs to be taken to task for more about what they can do for us.

Mr. Speaker, already, though, I am seeing that our questions about northern labour and northern business...Mr. Speaker, may I seek unanimous consent to finish my statement?

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude her statement. Are there any nays?

I hear a nay. Members' statements. Returns to oral questions. The honourable Member from Inuvik Boot Lake and Minister of Finance, Mr. Roland.

Point Of Privilege

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today on a point of personal privilege under Rule 20(1). In today's News/North there's an article on page 13 entitled "ATCO trailers draw fire." Accompanying the article is a picture of an ATCO trailer with the caption, and I quote, "The government wants to convert a new variety of ATCO trailer for residential use in aboriginal communities."

Mr. Speaker, one is left with the impression that the ATCO trailer pictured in the article would be used in the Novel project. It seems to me that the News/North has misunderstood the nature of the proposed project, and I'd like to clarify, for the record, that the ATCO unit pictured in the article would be completely inadequate for the Novel project, and I will be offering a press briefing next week to alleviate any future misunderstandings. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member from Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd also like to recognize my former colleague Leon Lafferty, Chief Leon Lafferty. For Heritage Day today, I'm proud to say that Leon took my jacket home and his mom did the Dogrib embroidery on my jacket. Thank you, Leon.

---Applause

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member from Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize a constituent of mine, Mr. Manuel Jorge, who is with us today. He runs a manufacturing facility in the riding of Kam Lake: Energy Wall Products. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member from Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to introduce and recognize Georgina Fabian from the Hay River Reserve. She's the mother of one of our Pages that are working with us today. I'd also like to recognize Lorne Napier, a former college buddy of mine from Fort Smith. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. I'd like to welcome everyone in the gallery today. The honourable Member from Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to recognize Chief Henry Gon from the Tlicho leadership. One time Henry and I were fighting fires in the assembly line. In the late '70s we were fighting fires and today we're putting out different fires...

---Laughter

Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Oral questions. The honourable Member from Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, thank you. My question this afternoon is for the Honourable Michael Miltenberger as the Minister responsible for the environment. It relates to his participation in December of last year, Mr. Speaker, in Montreal, along with our Premier, when they signed, among 18 other states and countries to provide the Declaration of Federated States and Regional Government on Climate Change. The first commitment of this agreement, Mr. Speaker, is to set achievable short and long-term targets and objectives within our own jurisdictions for overall emission reductions. Could the Minister advise this House in implementing this agreement, what commitments has this government made to short and long-term achievable targets for greenhouse gas reduction, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there hasn't been much specificity arrived at our targets set as a result of that agreement that was signed not very long ago. But suffice it to say, Mr. Speaker, we have a number of initiatives on a number of different fronts that are attempting to deal with this. We're going to have a white paper out on energy that's going to give a chance to get feedback on that. We were working very closely with the former federal government on a climate change agreement that was very, very close to being finalized. We're waiting to have meetings with the new Conservative government to see where that's going to take us. But we recognize, Mr. Speaker, that we're going to have some serious challenges before us if the pipeline goes ahead; our amount of emissions is going to increase. So we're working with them, as well, to look at the potential of hydro development. So we're looking at a number of ways, across the board, to look at what we can do to limit our emissions before we come to this more specific task of setting targets. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's a bit discouraging to find out that we're continuing to do yet more study and more exploration, Mr. Speaker, in the face, for instance, that our own NWT greenhouse reduction strategy dated in 2001 is still in draft form, and yet we're continuing to study this issue. Mr. Speaker, further to the Minister's reference to hydro, there is enormous potential in the Northwest Territories, and we certainly know that we have some very strong candidates for anchor customers in the pipeline and the diamond mines. Could the Minister advise how the advancement of hydro power will be pursued as a source of cleaner energy for mining and other development, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's work being done on the Taltson hydro expansion that's going to look at running a line north to be able to feed the diamond mine with the surplus power that is currently there, with the ability to expand the Taltson dam to be able to generate over 100 megawatts of power. That's a significant initiative. There's work being done on the Bear River, as well; initial studies. There's working being done as part of the Mackenzie gas pipeline development to see about the use of that power, that hydroelectricity, to be able to generate the power required to run the compressor stations on the pipeline, which are two major developments. I'd point out as we are doing our own work, we've also received indication that the Alberta government is once again seriously exploring the dam on the Slave River. So there's hydro throughout this territory and in Alberta where there's serious work being done.

Our focus is on what's happening in the Northwest Territories, but we have to be very, very cognizant about what's happening in the South, as well, because it will impact our ability up here. Thank you.