Thank you, Mr. McLeod, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the Member is talking about bricks and mortar, we have a long way to go. The proposal I made to the other two Ministers was that using the facilities that we have with our campuses, the existing campuses, by expanding what we're doing into more of a research oriented area of interest, that we could probably attract money that is now going to other universities.

The Member mentioned the University of Alberta. They get millions and millions and millions of dollars from the Government of Canada to fund research chairs, and it was my thought that if we were able to work together with the other two jurisdictions to have a pan-territorial university, that we might be able to attract those dollars as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Mr. Speaker, the proposed creation of the NWT oil and gas socio-economic advisory board as part of the Mackenzie Valley SEA is worthy of questions and I will direct them to Mr. Bell, the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Investment. Mr. Speaker, the board is set up to provide advice, to receive and analyze reports, and to undertake other studies related to the SEA. There are five objectives outlined in some length in the agreement. But what I was curious about here, Mr. Speaker, was the duty to really give value to this whole process, to this whole project, and to the ability of the people of the NWT to know what's going on and get effective monitoring on the SEA. So, Mr. Speaker, the question that I'd like to ask is just where is the significance of this board, how is it being resourced, what are the expectations in terms of our ability to use it as an effective part of this project management? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Two or three questions there; I'll allow the Minister to answer one or all three of them. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is an important aspect of this socio-economic agreement. Socio-economic monitoring is critical, it's vital. We do know that we will be challenged with a two-year, maybe three-year, construction period to have the board meet a few times a year, compile reports, receive information from our government, from Imperial, as to how successful they are being in meeting the objectives of the SEA. But the plan is to have them do just that. Come back to us with recommendations about adaptation, about changes, about things that we need to do. But, very much, their job is quite intense initially. After two years of construction, it's about monitoring the operations as it relates to socio-economics and it significantly ramps down, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, we know from the 20 or so pages that define this advisory board, that it is made up, at least initially, of one person from the Government of the Northwest Territories, three from the original proponents, four aboriginal organizations, and then potentially in the future any other downstream operators and any other aboriginal organizations that may come forward. Mr. Speaker, my concern is that the GNWT, which also has a $200,000 a year commitment to fund this organization, has one vote out of many. How is the effectiveness of our voice going to be heard on this advisory board when we are potentially going to be overwhelmed by the other operators and aboriginal organizations on this board, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Bell.

Mr. Speaker, I don't think we should take the view that we're going to be overwhelmed by aboriginal organizations. I don't think we're adversaries; I think we're working collectively. I see it as the representation of the public interest, and we are doing that together; both our government, the aboriginal authorities whose people, this land, is clearly going to be potentially impacted. Their standard of living, the socio-economic impacts, are going to affect our communities. They have a vested interest in how this unfolds. So we don't see it as an us and them. We do think, though, that we have to hold industry to account. We are proposing that it is the aboriginal organizations and our government which will collectively and cooperatively do that, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Final supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm all in favour of a collective and cooperative approach and I do hope that's what this society will do for us. However, Mr. Speaker, I do want to indicate that the Minister is being somewhat selective in saying that we don't want to be overwhelmed by aboriginal organizations. That is not, Mr. Speaker, absolutely not the intent of my question. But what we should do is look very carefully at the three seats already occupied by the original proponents and potentially any other operators. This board could be overwhelmed just by operators, just by industry, Mr. Speaker. The question that I'd like to ask the Minister is, this is a public government that works on behalf of all residents of the Northwest Territories, and that is why I want to again return to this point of where is the effectiveness and the equity of the whole of the Northwest Territories in a board that, so far, has the GNWT's single voice among at least seven other members, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Bell.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that it may not have been the Member's intent to suggest that we were going to be overwhelmed by aboriginal authorities, but I believe that that's in fact what he said. So I appreciate the clarification. I think that that's important. This board needs to strike an industry and a public interest balance. We think the public interest is served by having our government at the table. Obviously, the various departments of our government need to feed into this process. We will rely on Health and Social Services, ECE, ENR to provide information to the board. But again, there is deliberately a balance between the public interest, as represented by our government, and the aboriginal authorities and industry. In future, we think, as future developments happen, there's more exploration in the basin, other industry partners will come to the table, as will other affected aboriginal interests, it would be again

our desire to strike that balance between industry and public interest. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are directed to the Premier and it's in regards to his meeting that's going to be taking place tomorrow with his colleagues from Nunavut and the Yukon. Specifically, I'd like to ask the Premier in regards to the strong inter-territorial concern about caribou and their herds, whether he would take this opportunity to ask Premier Fentie to ensure that the Porcupine caribou survey is done this coming year, and he would ask his colleague Premier Okalik to work with us to carry out the Beverly Qamanirjuaq herd survey and, more importantly, talk to him about the protection of the calving grounds that currently exist, of which there are five in Nunavut. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'll certainly have opportunity to talk to the other two northern Premiers. We do have an interjurisdictional agreement with Nunavut and with Yukon. Caribou figures highly in our issues today and I will raise this with the other two Premiers. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister of ITI, again I'd like to follow up on my previous questions on the socio-economic agreements in terms of the strength of these agreements in terms of commitments by all parties in terms of ensuring that this agreement will be fulfilled to the spirit and intent of the signatories to the document. What strength do we have, does the territorial government have, to ensure the people in the Northwest Territories that this agreement will be implemented as it was supposed to be, or should be? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think it's important that we keep in context the fact that this is one agreement of many that we've seen recently that related to the Mackenzie gas project. I indicated earlier the $500 million fund, the access and benefits in our communities, in our regions, are critical. A lot of money, a lot of work, a lot of opportunity, Mr. Speaker. I do know that currently underway in our communities, in our regions, Imperial Oil, on behalf of the producers, is conducting workshops to help build better local understanding related to project timing, related to the bidding and qualification process. They are, as I've indicated, setting up lists and working with the regions to understand who can do what, who will be the approved businesses. I think the proof is in the pudding and in the work that is being done in the regions, by governments and by industry, to help us be ready. Because, Mr. Speaker, commitments are one thing, but if we can't reach those commitments because our people aren't ready, they are, in effect, meaningless. So that's the most important point here, Mr. Speaker. We have a lot of work to do to build capacity and we are doing that jointly. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I certainly hope that the commitments will be fulfilled by all the signatories to this document. I guess we'll wait and see in terms of how these commitments will roll out. Time will only tell, after the next five or 10 years after the pipeline has been considered for construction and being built, and after construction. I want to ask the Minister in terms of these socio-economic agreements, how is this in terms of the Diavik or BHP socio-economic agreements? Where, in a territorial-wide basis, is the Sahtu in these socio-economic agreements that the territorial government signs? How are we impacted or how are we being looked at in terms of this agreement? Thank you.