That’s very convenient that that review is underway and that that information will be forthcoming. The Minister indicates that only about 60 percent of the 50 tags allocated, that’s the only uptake there is on those tags. There may be a good explanation for why that is. Are a certain number of those tags only available to certain communities? Who would qualify for taking advantage of that and those who do, is it in the pursuit of the bison for meat?

Twenty go to Fort Providence Renewable Resources Board for distribution to the residents; nine go to the Fort Providence Renewable Resources Board for distribution to outfitters; six go to Behchoko to the Tlicho Government; 15 go to non-HTA residents through a draw system.

The 15 that are open on the draw system, they just have to be an NWT resident to qualify for one of those tags?

Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

I’d like to ask the Minister if he has been lobbied or contacted in any way by anyone else out there who thinks that a larger harvest of these bison would be something to pursue.

While that is a most meritorious suggestion, I have not received any other queries. We have had some discussion about having hunting, being able to harvest some bison with some of the elders around out of Yellowknife to be able to teach some of the younger folks how to go out on the land and harvest bison, but I haven’t, that I’m aware of, received any other queries in terms of possible commercial harvest.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

I’m starting to get the feeling that the Member may be anti-establishment, trying to cloud the issue about how we do our work. I’ve answered that question once before around what we stand for in trying to get those contracts in place and the work we do. We provided him the information. He has the results. He’s asked the written question for much more detail, that we’re working on now to get him that information. In fact, with the information he has, he knows now, that in today’s environment we do that work with our staff because we haven’t built the connections. We have built a network with the support of those early contracts.

On the contrary, I am seeking transparency rather than cloudiness. I am trying to penetrate the clouds here. Apparently the Northern Strategy Group principles, including Mr. Bell, may not only have been working for us during the time of their contract, they may also have been lobbying for northern firms and working for the federal government. Can the Premier confirm what corporations and other governments the Northern Strategy Group was serving, if any, while under contract to us?

I think you would find in any jurisdiction, whether it be in Ottawa, that someone who has registered himself as a lobbyist, or in Alberta that goes out as a consultant for hire, that they try to attract as many business opportunities as possible to sustain their business. That could be the case with the Northern Strategy Group that Mr. Bromley has spoken of. I would have to approach the group to see what other contracts they may have had in place and see if they’re prepared to offer up that information.

It’s not the consultants I’m worried about here, actually. I do indeed agree with the Premier that they are well able to look after themselves and will go out after as much business as they can get. I’m worried about the public trust, the public dollars here. Does the Premier not feel that this would have amounted, if they were indeed working for others that have interests different from ours, to a conflict of interest in the provision of the sole-sourced contract advice?

When we entered into the contracts, we had a number of goals in mind as the Ottawa connection was the biggest one. Some

of our industry possibilities were some of the things we were talking about, like the Mackenzie Valley Highway, like our Hydro Strategy that the Government of the Northwest Territories has put in place. There are a couple of key issues that we wanted to build our business case with, that we wanted to set up our networks with. As the information shows to the Member that in fact the contract that he’s speaking specifically of, I believe that contract was terminated in September 2008 and hasn’t been renewed since that time because we felt we’d built up the network and connections and went forward on that basis.

Thank you, Premier Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Thanks for all the remarks. My final question is: did any previous Ministers, members of the Northern Strategy Group, or senior staff, recent senior staff that recently left government, receive a concession fee for brokering the Discovery Air loan?

I don’t believe from our side that was the case. Again, I don’t have that information. We’d have to approach that party to see if that was the case.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today in my Member’s statement I once again spoke about dust problems in Fort Resolution and Lutselk’e. I would like to follow this up with questions of the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.

Is the Minister prepared to address dust problems in the Tu Nedhe communities and start the process of working with the communities on this specific issue so that the work of suppressing dust can begin next spring?

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re more than willing to go in and work with the communities to identify their capital needs, and dust control is one part of it. I have to inform the Member that we do want to go in and work with the communities, and one of the particular communities that he’s referencing is a banned community. So our department is sitting on some money that should be flowing to the community and we’re just waiting for the community to make the arrangements to form a corporation so they can own real property. They have in the neighbourhood of $3 million that would be allocated to them once

that’s done. That should go a long way to deciding their capital projects, including dust control. Our department is willing to go into the community to work with them in helping set up a corporation so the money can start flowing and their capital money can start flowing afterwards.

I think there’s some issue pertaining to negotiations. In order not to pre-empt negotiations that are going on between the aboriginal First Nations and the governance or pre-empting discussions on governance model, can the Minister direct his staff to spend capital through a cooperative consultative process with the Lutselk’e Dene First Nation?

We will work with the community of Lutselk’e in helping them to establish a corporation so the money can start flowing to the corporation that can be used by the community for their capital projects.