Thank you, Mr. Chair. That’s good.

Thank you. I have no further people on my list. We are on page 12-22, activity summary, energy, grants and contributions, contributions $6.550 million.

Thank you. Page 12-23, information item, energy, active positions.

Page 12-25, activity summary, tourism and parks, operations expenditure summary, $12.753 million. Agreed? Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I asked questions in the House earlier this week with regard to tourism and parks. We do have parks that are established under land claims agreements, which are classified as protected areas but they’re just like any other territorial park. In those agreements, there are certain plans being developed. There is a park management plan to identify how the park is going to be managed and also there is a committee that is established as a park committee to oversee the management of those parks. One of the main components of those agreements is to promote the culture and history of those regions as part of the promotion of their parks with the information centres and the tourism promotion items in the different territorial parks and land claim areas. Where in this do we see the establishment of territorial parks under the protected areas such as the Gwich’in Territorial Park and the Dodo Canyon Park with regard to how they are being implemented by way of these agreements that have been negotiated and worked on between the Government of the Northwest Territories and those aboriginal organizations?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Minister McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My understanding is that through the creation of a territorial park, it is a protected area and the current operations and maintenance contract for the Gwich’in Territorial Park is held by Chii Construction Services of Inuvik until the fall of 2009. This was awarded to them through an agreement with the Gwich’in Tribal Council in 2007. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Again, I think it’s important for the government to read the protected areas of those land claim agreements because it specifically states more than just a simple contract. It talks about managing the park. It talks about training. It talks about job opportunities. I think that those agreements mean something to the groups that have negotiated them. I would just like to know how you guys follow those land claim agreements and implement those sections of the agreements in light of your responsibility for tourism and parks. There is that agreement that is in place which identifies how

that relationship is going to be worked on going forward. So I would like to know exactly how closely do you ensure the implementation of those land claim agreements.

There is a memorandum of agreement between the Gwich’in Tribal Council and the Government of the Northwest Territories on the development, operation and maintenance of the Gwich’in Territorial Park. There was a Parks Management Committee that was established to oversee the development of the park master plan and to recommend the plan to the Minister of the day. The committee did meet on an ad hoc basis following the 1995 approval. Our understanding is its mandate ended with the completion of the plan. The park was overseen, managed, by Chii Construction and more recently they went to contract tender for a registered Gwich’in business. This was for snow removal contract that the Member raised questions about. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Again, I would just like to point out that there are these agreements, these plans, and I think it’s important that you continue to work on the basis of how those things came about and that you don’t just lose sight of it and just figure everything is over because you have a couple of contracts. I think this is a long-term goal. The land claim groups took it on their own to designate lands and took them out of circulation from the federal government to the Government of the Northwest Territories and for the aboriginal groups to establish parks so that they can be enjoyed by everyone. I think we can’t simply undermine those agreements. It’s important to realize that there was a lot of goodwill on all sides to establish these parks, because we do have areas designated to be protected because of the establishment of these parks.

I would just like to ask the Minister are there any plans to do a review with regard to the implementation of the park management plans and ensure that they’re working as they were supposed to?

We fully subscribe to the Member’s comments and we have requested our regional superintendent to begin discussions with the chief to determine if additional work is required, if we are remiss in any way. We are prepared to elevate it to discussions with the president to make sure that we meet all of our requirements and commitments. Thank you.

Mr. Krutko, anything further?

No, that’s it, thanks.

Thank you. Moving on, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a question on page 12-25. I hope that’s where we are. It’s with regard to the contract services. There is a rather large increase from last year to this year and, as well, over ’07-08. It’s almost a $2 million increase in contract services. If I could get an explanation of why the large increase, please. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The two most significant increases are with regard to promoting the Olympics where we have an identified budget of $1.39 million and our national marketing campaign to advertise the North of $400,000. I will ask Mr. Vician to identify any other increases, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. Mr. Vician.

Thank you, Mr. Vician. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you. Now I am really confused. I thought the Minister said we had $1.4 million for the Olympics and 0.4 for the national marketing campaign, and then Mr. Vician gave us another whole bunch of numbers which took me well beyond the $1.8 million which I see is the difference between these two numbers. I am talking about contract services. Is everybody on the same page or not? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mr. McLeod.