Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Perhaps at this point I'll apologize to the Member for Monfwi for forgetting his riding. But I have, in the answer that I did give to the Member for Monfwi, there is money to be expected to be released shortly for the study of the Tlicho roads and the realignment of the roads. It will be up to one million dollars and DOT will work with the Tlicho governments and industry in these studies and these studies will determine the next steps as to how we want to build the roads to the Tlicho and the Slave Geological Province and if we can synergize them and bring them together, that will be the best scenario there, Mr. Speaker. Just in answering the Member for Thebacha, the DOT will work with the Tlicho Government on this very important matter of the roads. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't want the Minister of Transportation to underestimate or undervalue his role as the Minister of the department. My question to the Minister is, will he, as

Minister, commit to sitting down with the grand chief of the Tlicho Government to talk about that particular road issue, among others that may be there, but that particular road issue? Will the Minister commit to sitting down and establishing a meeting in the not-too-distant future with the grand chief? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I can commit to meeting with the grand chief...

...of the Tlicho Government and discuss the roads that are very important to their government. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Premier, Mr. Handley. I am following up with questions asked by my colleague Mr. Braden regarding the resource revenue sharing negotiations with Ottawa. I would like to ask the Premier in the response to one of the questions before, he said we are looking at the end of March to hopefully reach an AIP. I would like to ask the Premier who the AIP is with. Is it with the Government of Canada or is it between the Government of the Northwest Territories and the aboriginal governments? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The agreement-in-principle I referred to is between the federal government, the territorial government and those aboriginal governments that choose to sign on at that time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the meetings in December, I would like to ask the Premier do we have an AIP right now between the Government of the Northwest Territories and the aboriginal governments that chose to sign on? My understanding was I thought we may have had an AIP. Do we have an AIP with the aboriginal governments that have decided to sign on? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There was a draft of an agreement-in-principle that was completed in June 2005. It was never signed, but it was agreed to by the aboriginal leaders represented by the summit. Mr. Speaker, that was as close as we got. There were outstanding issues with the federal government.

Mr. Speaker, in December, when I met with the aboriginal governments and organizations, we went through the principles that were included in the 2005 agreement and had verbal agreement from those around the table to the principles.

Also at that time, we committed to doing workshops to help explain devolution and resource revenue sharing to them in each region. Mr. Speaker, there was no signed agreement in 2005, the draft, and last December there was agreement verbally around the table to work towards an AIP to be signed by the end of March. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Premier for that. I would like to ask the Premier if the aboriginal governments are part of the actual negotiations with Ottawa as far as resource and devolution deals are going.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, until June 2005, they were part of it. In 2005, they indicated through the summit that their issues were resolved. Since that time, there have been bilateral discussions between the territorial government and the federal government on six outstanding issues, one of which is resource revenue sharing. Mr. Speaker, as we negotiate with the federal government, we are also negotiating with the aboriginal governments on how to share the resource revenues that would come north. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Without the direct involvement of the aboriginal government, how much authority or weight are our negotiations with Canada on a resource and devolution deal? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, as a territorial government, we have the right and the obligation to participate in resource revenue sharing discussions that

are taking place under the challenge of achieving agreement on fiscal balance across the country. So on the one hand, we are negotiating directly along with all provinces and territories for resource revenue sharing. At the same time, following a parallel path, we are negotiating devolution and resource revenue sharing with aboriginal governments. So there are two tracks we are following here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.