Mr. Speaker, I think what the government has done is caved in on this one, again to the demands of a regulatory process that demands that it's in place before we're there, to the demands of big companies that want to make sure that we're not going to be a thorn in their sides when they go ahead and start stripping off the wealth of the NWT. When are we going to stop playing nice guy, Mr. Speaker, with either the proponents of this project or with Ottawa?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I mean it's curious that Yellowknife MLAs didn't stand up and protest when we signed socio-economic agreements with the diamond mines prior to having a resource revenue sharing arrangement, Mr. Speaker.

This project is critical for huge, huge vast tracts of this territory, Mr. Speaker. I think it's northerners who will benefit, who will get the business opportunities, the employment opportunities, and so we're not here to suggest to the Delta, we're not here to suggest up and down the valley that we don't support your economic aspirations because we have another political imperative. We're working on both of these things in parallel. We think we can walk and chew gum at the same time, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to ask the Minister if he can walk and chew caribou meat at the same time...

---Laughter

...because we're not going to have much caribou left here in the NWT if we don't see any kind of immediate injection into this whole caribou crises that we have here in the NWT before us, Mr. Speaker. I want to see the caribou initiative become a priority right up there with resource revenue sharing, devolution, the unequalization. I think caribou has to be right up there with anybody right here in this House. If the Minister is going to come forward with any kind of supp that we can get the money out there to get all of the caribou counted in one shot. I don't care about the high price of helicopter time or the money we need for more wildlife officers. I don't think any northerners are going to object to any of this new money that we need for that, Mr. Speaker. So I want to ask the Minister to get his cameras together, to come forward. Can he come forward with a supplementary appropriation to get those monies put into wildlife management and caribou counting this year, Mr. Speaker? Can he do that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, it's probably very evident that this issue has been up there with all the other issues that we're dealing with, and I'm not surprised that some Members will contest our surveys and we're

probably never going to satisfy everybody. Mr. Speaker, we've done a lot of work in the last several years. We probably have the best information out there of any government or any organization, and we have compiled all the information that we needed to make a decision. Now, some people are going to want us to count every herd in North America to satisfy them. We can't do that. We can count the herds that are in crises in the Northwest Territories that utilize the hunting areas or the different zones in the NWT, but we can't commit right now to count every herd all at once at the same time. That's just not realistic. Even if we could come up with all the resources in terms of dollars to do that, we don't have the manpower; we don't have the helicopters and everything available to do that all in one year. That's not possible, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

I would beg to differ, Mr. Speaker. You know, talking with all the people that are engaged in caribou monitoring and caribou harvesting, we have to get all the aboriginals engaged and assist the government. If we've got the money, I don't see where they would refuse to assist the government in doing any kind of monitoring. We can do some surveys next year, the year after and year after that, but all these numbers are always going to be contested, Mr. Speaker, and the only way that we're not going to get anybody arguing over the numbers is to get them done within a timely period, and that being one year. So I don't think there's going to be much...

Do you have a question, Mr. Villeneuve?

...for new money that's going to go into this initiative, and I want to see more dollars going into that. Can the Minister commit to northerners to get more money? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I certainly can commit that we'll look for some new money for more surveys, and more harvesting numbers, and better numbers from hunters from the aboriginal side. I'm not sure that would satisfy him, Mr. Speaker. We are counting the herd in his riding next year, and I'm sure those numbers won't satisfy him either. But, Mr. Speaker, we can't commit to counting every herd in this area, in North America, so that the Member would be completely satisfied that one caribou doesn't mix with another herd. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Okay, maybe it's unrealistic, but I think if we give it our best shot, I think that's the best that we can do. We shouldn't be worried about money. I'm worried about caribou.

Question, Mr. Villeneuve.

...but I think this issue, it's almost got like an emergency...

Mr. Villeneuve, do you have a question?

...I want to ask the Minister, can he commit to this House that he would come forward in the next couple weeks, or during this year, to have more money put into wildlife management to get our caribou numbers on the table? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's very difficult to answer the Member's question. First of all, he's asking us if we'd commit to counting every herd in North America so that he could be satisfied. We can't commit to that. He's asking me a question about the supp, whether we're going to come back with additional money. The rules of this House don't allow me to speak about the supp; but, Mr. Speaker, I can commit that we are trying to find every avenue to get additional resources to provide the best information we can for this serious crises that we're in. Thank you.