Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is right that I, along with the Minister of Finance, met with the owners of Arslanian and Polar Bear factories to have this discussion. The allegations they have raised are concerning for us, so we have asked them to provide us with some documentation and that is something that we can then take to the company to have this discussion. I should point out the factory seems concerned only with one of the mines. I don't want to make the suggestion that it is all producers. We do have MOUs in place with both mines. Under the terms of our socio-economic agreement, there are diamonds set aside for northern producers. One of the challenges we have is that there was never any discussions or reference made to pricing in those agreements, but it is something we are sitting down to deal with with that company and look forward to making some progress. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Brendan Bell on Question 340-15(4): Support For Northern Diamond Polishing Facilities
In the Legislative Assembly on February 6th, 2006. See this statement in context.
Return To Question 340-15(4): Support For Northern Diamond Polishing Facilities
Question 340-15(4): Support For Northern Diamond Polishing Facilities
Item 6: Oral Questions
February 5th, 2006
Page 750
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