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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe that the first step has to be to have the regional land use plans that work for the people in those regions. We need to have that. But, Mr. Speaker, we need to also, and I agree with the Member, we need to have a territorial plan for the whole Northwest Territories that serves as a framework for all of the regional plans. We already have, I think, the basic elements, even though they're not put together into one document, of the overall framework, and certainly our approach to develop it and to protection is very much similar to the aboriginal leadership. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, some of the fundamental questions we have yet to ask as a territory is how much development is sustainable, how much do we need, what's in the best interest of the territory, what's the value of the resources that we look to have extracted, what's the value and benefit to the people of the Northwest Territories? Does the Premier see those types of questions as fundamental to the issues of regional land use planning? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, certainly those are all good questions. But we also have to work with our neighbours, because a lot of development protection and so on affects geographical areas. So if you take the Mackenzie River basin, for example, it takes in the Yukon, B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories. We do work with them, but we need to know where they stand as well. We need to know what their development plans are. So it's bigger than just us as a territory developing our own in isolation as if we were an island on our own. I think the Member is very aware of the approach that it has to be more than us. I've certainly championed the idea of a western energy strategy, a western energy alliance and so on, as a way of dealing with these broader issues than just our territory.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, could the Premier clarify a bit further how he sees those broad initiatives moving forward in the time this Assembly has left and in the meetings that he may have available with his colleagues as Premier? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, the biggest challenges we have on development, I think everyone would agree, are probably coming from Alberta, given the amount of development happening and the importance of what they do to the Mackenzie basin, which takes us all the way down the Mackenzie Valley to the Delta. Mr. Speaker, one of the first things that we have to do is collect better baseline information. I don't think we have the information we need and we're going to do that. Second is we have to, as part of the Mackenzie basin study, begin to work more bilaterally with Alberta than has been the case in the past, and I intend to start that as soon as I have time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. I'd like to remind Members of the rules of the House; making reference to people who are not present in the House. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the area of the property assessment and taxation is one that has, yes, indeed, plagued a couple of the communities in the Northwest Territories and not all taxpayers in those communities. It's been an issue that's been ongoing. We've worked with the Member for Tu Nedhe, as well as the community, trying to get a process under way. Much contact has been made between the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs in coordination with Finance. On the Finance side of it, we follow the Property Assessment and Taxation Act, which clearly sets out guidelines of informing residents of taxes due and arrears that get calculated at a percentage. It is all within the act. We follow that process on an annual basis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Short supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand that there are rules that this government has to abide by, but it seems like the aboriginal governments or the aboriginal people who get these arrears aren't abiding by the acts themselves. So I guess we have to ask the question, how far do we let this go? We have property tax statements here dating back to 1991. Do we let it go another 15 or 16 years, Mr. Speaker? When can we actually sit down with these aboriginal governments, the Department of Finance, Municipal...

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. I heard a question there. We will allow the Minister to answer. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the area of arrears is a troubling one. Again, it is not just aboriginal people in communities. That has been one of the issues from one of the communities, is the fact that aboriginal people in that community should not have to pay taxes, but quite clearly, within our act and the fact that that community is not on a reserve, the Taxation Act applies to each citizen in that community. We have aboriginal people in that community paying taxes as well. The issue is, should we act on it? We should be following our act. In fact, it should have stepped in many years ago and initiated the process that is there, and that is to recover the losses.

In municipalities where there is a taxation authority existing already, that does happen. When communities do not receive their property taxes, they put that property up for sale after giving the owner due notice. We have been trying to work with the communities. The table there has been left open. Quite clearly, the last correspondence with Minister McLeod in that area has been informing the fact that the act applies and that the GNWT does have that authority to work through that area. Of course, we hope to come up with a solution with the individual taxpayers. That is the preferable route we would like to go. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess the message is let's all get in on the act, I guess to all these residents with $20,000 outstanding. I just want to ask the Minister if he can commit to actually getting a working group established, that people with $20,000 in arrears can actually pick up the phone, phone them, set up a payment plan, a work plan that would work for them so they don't have to hang onto these letters? They are actually working with the government to try and resolve the issue. Can the Minister commit to getting some committee working group set up in the NWT so people can contact them and get this issue out of their way? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, part of the assessment that goes out, the notification there, is that property owners have an opportunity to appeal the assessment that has been given through an appeal board. That is one of the processes that is available immediately. We have tried, for example, in one of the communities in Tu Nedhe, to work with them for more immediate assessment, a physical assessment. That was, again, working through the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, and myself, and the staff, and the Member, and meeting with the community leaders to set up a process. Unfortunately, that did not proceed. That option is there as well, but, gladly, I will sit down with the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs and work out a process where we can contact those in arrears and try to set up a payment plan. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, my questions this morning are for Mr. Bell, the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Investment. It relates to the socio-economic agreement that was recently signed with the Mackenzie Valley pipeline proponents. Mr. Speaker, this agreement goes to great lengths, and so it should, to stipulate the hiring advantages that should be given to aboriginal and indigenous northerners. Mr. Speaker, there is another category identified, that of NWT resident, that I think is left out quite high and dry in this, Mr. Speaker. This is the point of my question where, in agreements with the diamond mines, we have stipulated at least some residency requirement in order to be counted. However, Mr. Speaker, the socio-economic agreement says only that...This is the definition of an NWT resident: it means any individual who makes a representation or provides evidence that in any case can be relied on by an operator or contractor. I won't get any further. The point is any individual who makes a representation can be counted as a northern resident.

Mr. Speaker, why did the government betray the interests of long-term resident northerners in signing away their advantage to get hired on ahead of just about anybody else?