Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I understand that certain levels of advancement need to be looked at by different levels of university students. I guess my point is to look at a strong entry point where students from the Northwest Territories, students who are in the Sahtu region that could help out. I'm not too sure that requires additional dollars from industry, or requires extra dollars from the federal government or from other agencies. I guess what I'm asking is that because we wouldn't have much of a chance to get our students involved in this program. I know in our region I didn't see very many students -- and I could be wrong on this one here -- from the Northwest Territories who had post-secondary education experience or are working towards a degree from the Northwest Territories working in the Sahtu. I know the rock in the mountains, some of my young people was saying, well, we could climb those mountains. We've been on them for the last four or five days. We could pick the rocks. You know, how come these guys are so special?

They're willing to learn. I guess that's what I'm getting on to the Minister, stressing the strong point that some of our students can certainly spark their interest. I know education is something that geoscientists, they don't really have much of an opportunity as the smaller schools don't allow certain programs in our communities because of the way the system is set up. I know Diamex does that. They hire a couple students out of the Sahtu that worked in the region. They went to the school, they opened up two positions for schools to go out with experienced surveyors and people who worked in that area and they taught the students for at least two weeks. So I make it a plea, I guess, to the department to have a strong push for our own people in the North to work in this area here.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think some very good points. One of the things that we can probably do a better job of is encouraging our...We've said it a number of times in the House and a number of Members point to this, but to get into these kinds of careers, obviously our students need a strong foundation in math and science. There's really no way around that. So an interest in climbing hills and finding rocks is good, but if you're going to get into this at university and get the credentials you need, we've got to encourage our young people to stick to the books, work hard and make sure they have top marks in math and science.

Now having said that, I think we can also work with companies. I've seen, and I think the Member knows and has been pointed out to me on past occasions, some companies do a very good of involving local young people, and other companies don't put as much of an effort into that. I think as a government we can encourage companies to try to work with our young people, to go into our schools and talk about what they do and try to create some interest. That really is just a matter of...You asked about whether it was more money. I don't think it's a matter of more money; I think it's a matter of more coordinated effort at the regional level, more working with the companies as they come to do work in our communities and in our regions, to talk about the interest that might be out there. But, Mr. Chairman, I think that's

part of it; is drumming up interest, talking about what these companies do. The second part of it is making sure our kids have a strong foundation in math and science, because without that they really can't get into the field. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Page 10-17, activity summary, energy, mines and petroleum resources, operations expenditure summary, $7.221 million.

Pages 10-18, 10-19, activity summary, energy, mines and petroleum resources, grants and contributions, contributions, $1.210 million.

Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, on 10-19, if the Minister could explain the drop off on the Taltson hydro matter. Last year, we have almost $1.4 million invested. I can see where it's going to the feasibility study, et cetera. Can the Minister tell me today that all the work has been completed, or is there any more ongoing work? Let's start with that, please. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Bell.

Mr. Chairman, the work for last year in that stage has been completed and I believe we have expended the $1.395 million. There is more work that we need to do this year. Of course, Mr. Chairman, there is more pre-engineering work. We've got to get to a stage now where we can make the final case for this project and put the business deal together. I think we need to talk about an appeal to the federal government for some equity injection here. I think we have some future announcements to come in the coming weeks as we get into going through our energy plan. We will have more discussion around hydro projects and I think that will inform what we are proposing to do this year. So that discussion isn't in front of us now, but let me just say that there is more work to be done. We think this has the potential of this project to offset a huge amount of GHG emissions and it is one of the projects we are most bullish on, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If I may capture the Minister's words, it's a bullish situation here. I think it's a good project with lots of potential. Why isn't there any money listed under this as a budget item? Are we waiting for Minister Flaherty to fly over with money? Where is the money to move forward on this initiative? There isn't any listed here. Is it listed somewhere else or are we sitting hoping that more money comes?

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Bell.

Mr. Chairman, there are a number of core energy projects or objectives that we are proposing to fund. I won't get into that detail here. This is a part of that, Mr. Chairman. It will be part of the discussion in the coming weeks. In fact, next week we will have this discussion around this. Yes, we would like to see some federal investment. We think we can make a good case under some of the eco funds that are currently available. I know the Premier, the Minister of ENR and myself have both talked, all three of us have spoken with Minister Baird to talk about how those funds might be accessed. I have also spoken with the Minister of ENRCAN about that. We know they are going to be application based. We think this project is a prime candidate offsetting the diesel fuel at the mines. The expansion of that hydroelectric in the South Slave we think is going to pay huge dividends, Mr. Chairman. We are hoping to be able to make the sales pitch successful. We will see. Let me just say that we will discuss funding for this project next week and in the coming weeks. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would just make the point that seems as if, to one degree or other, we have underpinned a lot of hope and aspiration on the Taltson project, yet we don't have anything underlining it with dollar money. So I take the Minister's comments at this time on this particular subject. I just thought you would think if it's such an important project, it would be funded through its process in advance. I look forward to these excellent announcements waving in front of us like a carrot. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Bell.

Mr. Chairman, I don't hear another question. Let me say that we are proposing, and will propose, to put GNWT money towards this project and we would like to do it in a manner that makes it a candidate to lever additional federal resources. So how we cash flow this project we think is important. Yes, we have pinned a lot on this project because it may be more important than any other project we have in front of us that is at a stage where it's viable. It has the potential to probably offset the most GHG emissions that that is what we will underpin our energy plan. Members talked earlier about adaptation and mitigation. Those two elements, those two prongs of a strategy. We agree that those are the critical components. What we want to do is see GHGs offset and see a reduction. So we are proposing that this project can do a lot of that. Again, I look forward to more discussion with Members on this in the coming weeks.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Page 10-19, activity summary, energy, mines and petroleum resources, grants and contributions, contributions, $1.210 million.

Turn to page 10-22 and 10-23, activity summary, economic development, operations expenditure summary, $25.084 million.