Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Mackenzie Gas Project Socio-Economic Agreement outlines a number of areas of vital concern to the people of the Northwest Territories, our communities, our businesses. An aspect that is addressed in the agreement is the creation of the NWT oil and gas socio-economic advisory board. Mr. Speaker, this is a new level of, I'm assuming here, some accountability along with an advisory capacity that is being set up by the proponents and by the government, and it will include a number of members from aboriginal authorities.
Mr. Speaker, this is, as every project that we've seen, every major development project that we've seen has had advisory boards or monitoring boards bolted onto them and this is all very progressive, but we also need to look at these, Mr. Chairman, in terms of the value that they give to the overall process and just whether or not they actually improve the levels of accountability and transparency, and input, and influence that the Northwest Territories, either through government or communities, have.
I must express some concern, Mr. Chairman, at the terms of reference, which I won't go into. They are contained in the agreement, which is public and has been tabled. Because they do go into areas where this board, this society, is mandated to provide advice and analysis of various aspects of the conditions of the socio-economic agreement and a principle concern, as we've seen with so many other levels of governance, is just who is responsible, who is in control, and who has the ear of the people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause