The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude her statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just in conclusion, I just want to say that Canadians have indicated that protection of the environment is one of the highest priorities facing this country today and again I say that we, as legislators and as representatives of those people, have the responsibility to ensure that high standards are set and that we get in the fight. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Members' statement. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. Mr. Speaker, on this issue we need clear leadership. We need to show who's in control of our resource development and tell industry that they have to listen to us. It's about seriously protecting our environment. Further, Mr. Speaker, one thing people have to learn is it's a privilege to work here in the Northwest Territories, it's a privilege for industry to be doing something here. So because the technical control still may lie in the absentee landlord, also known as Ottawa, we can't forget that the Northwest Territories government still has moral control over our revenues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm also happy to join my colleagues today in speaking about protecting the health of our water and our environment as a whole. In doing so, Mr. Speaker, I'm reminded of the time some 29 years ago when my family and I took our long flight from Seoul, South Korea, to Yellowknife via Osaka, Japan, Vancouver, Edmonton to Yellowknife. I was a young girl and there were certain things I took for granted as being unchangeable cardinal rules that I had to revisit upon arrival in Yellowknife. Such as there are four seasons of even three months in a calendar year or that the sun goes down by 6:00 p.m., even in the middle of the summer. Of course, coming to the land of the midnight sun, it was something I had to change my thinking on, and those are pretty fundamental changes at that age. But one that I would always remember and one that I never thought would change is the sight of countless white spots that I could see from the air. We couldn't figure out what they were until we landed and we had to ask around. We finally figured out these were the frozen lakes in the early spring of May. Coming from the world where there had been summer for a couple of months, I didn't realize that there were so many lakes and that they would still be frozen. Of course, where I come from, there were two-thirds of land mass are mountains with rivers and streams running through them.

One thing, Mr. Speaker, that I also learned and I still can't get over is how big Great Slave Lake is. It's actually almost probably as big as the country of 40 million people that I came from. I always thought that even if everything else changed in the world, that we would always have the water that we could rely on as long as I lived. But almost 30 years later, that is all changing.

Mr. Speaker, one thing I didn't know then but I do know now is that we also live downstream from Alberta. In early '90s various sawmills and timber production companies were the ones that were contaminating our water, but now the insatiable appetite for water in oil sands is making those issues small in comparison. Mr. Speaker, may I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement?

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude her statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to finish by saying we must find a way to do our resource development project in an environmentally sensitive manner. The debate that we're having in this House is a call for challenge for everyone in this House and the leaders near and far to join in a united and collective action to protect our water. I'm happy to put my foot forward and add my voice to this important call for action. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Members' statement. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Speaker...(English not provided)

Good afternoon. I would like to say a big happy birthday to a wonderful lady, Gaegou Mary Kendi of Aklavik who turned 92 yesterday, March 4, 2007.

---Applause

Mr. Speaker, Mary is a well-respected elder from Aklavik. So many people have met her over the years and she's touched so many lives in her 92 years, but, more importantly, Mr. Speaker, Mary has always shared her knowledge and wisdom with the younger people.

More importantly, Mr. Speaker, Mary, who is well into her nineties, continues to participate in community meetings. You see her at the different assemblies that go on, and yet, Mr. Speaker, at 92 she's still very active. So, Mr. Speaker it gives me great honour to recognize a great role model and someone who inspires so many people that she has touched over her years, but also, Mr. Speaker, may she have many, many birthdays to come. At this time I would like to, again, wish Mary a very happy 92nd birthday. Happy birthday, Mary.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Members' statements. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize Chief Fred Sangris from the Akaitcho.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Welcome everybody in the gallery today. I hope you're enjoying the proceedings. Oral questions. Honourable Member from Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement I alluded to questions as to what our government's position is on a number of major potential, some more imminent than others, on the Alberta side of the border. In light of the tremendous impact this could have on the Northwest Territories, I'd like the Minister responsible for the environment to detail for us what some of the positions that our government has taken with... Let's talk about the tar sands specifically. We know that there's been an approval process that's been underway and that the Alberta government has basically been given a green light to issue permits and licences to proceed with this expansion. I would like to know what role our government had, if any, in those discussions and what legal right, I guess, we have to participate in that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the last couple of months we've been very busy at ENR trying to get a handle on a number of issues that have come forward, including the issues reflecting some of the concerns on water, climate change and bringing some of our strategies forward. Mr. Speaker, our department has been in contact with a multi-stakeholder group through the department of the Alberta government and the tar sands. We've contacted the Environment Minister and have set up some meetings. We've also been in contact with some of the organizations that have voiced concern. Mr. Speaker, we've now, more recently, just signed off on a framework agreement that will help us work with the Government of Alberta on controlling the water quality and water quantity. So that's gone out the door.

There are still a number of other issues we need to talk about. I've made contact with the Minister of Environment; we've set up a meeting for March 20th -- Honourable Rob Renner -- and are going to talk about some of the issues that have come forward as a result of activity in Alberta. I should point out, Mr. Speaker, that under the Mackenzie River Basin Board's requirements, prior notification protocol, the Government of Alberta has to advise us on any activity that's happening south of the border. Having said that, Mr. Speaker, we have to remember that some of this still falls under federal jurisdiction, so we have contacted the Minister of Environment, Mr. Lunn, and we also have contacted the Minister of Natural Resources. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that's a very good answer, however, I think we need a slightly larger role than to just be advised of what they're going to proceed with on the Alberta side of the border. We need to do more than...

We need to do more than monitor the development taking place down there. I'd like to ask the Minister what kind of agreements, memorandums of understanding, transboundary agreements, do we currently have in the Northwest Territories with Alberta that would give us the legal teeth to be more than just stakeholders? We're a little more than a stakeholder in this story. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I certainly agree with the honourable Member that we're more than just a stakeholder; we have to deal with all the downstream effects that come through development or climate change or otherwise. Mr. Speaker, it's been several years now that the Mackenzie Valley Basin Board has been in existence and part of the strategy is to sign transboundary agreements with all this jurisdictions. So far, the Northwest Territories is the only jurisdiction that has signed the agreement with the Yukon and now we have just signed the framework agreement. So I think we're ahead of the game. None of the other jurisdictions are at the same level we are. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.