Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will try to be as concise as possible

With regard to the water issue raised by all three Members that offer general comments, we are hard at work on the transboundary negotiations. We are engaged with Saskatchewan, Alberta, British

Columbia and ourselves, as well as the federal government as we map out the rules of engagement and set up the negotiating processes that are going to be required. For the information of Member Hawkins, in fact the Alberta government is very willing and interested to come to the table. In fact, both the Alberta government and the Northwest Territories government have written to British Columbia, for example, to indicate that we would like to have legally binding water agreements in place before site C proceeds on the Bennett Dam.

Once again, for Member Hawkins, the headwaters of the Peace are, in fact, in British Columbia, which provides about 70 percent of the Slave and the Slave provides about 70 percent or so of water into Great Slave Lake. So it’s a very important jurisdiction for us.

We are also, in terms of water monitoring, the federal government has committed now, after some recent studies and a lot of political pressure, to setting up a committee to oversee the implementation of what we hope will be a world-class monitoring system north of McMurray. It will be able to take a comprehensive look at the impact of that development. We are encouraging the federal government to have as wide a scope as possible. As I pointed out in this House yesterday, in fact we’ve had the good fortune to have one of our very best water people on that panel, Dr. Erin Kelly.

With regard to the caribou, we are doing presentations to committee here this week on the caribou strategy, the Barren Land Caribou Strategy for the next five years, 2011 to 2015. There has been some stabilizing of numbers in some cases. Indications are, for example, when the Porcupine, after waiting about eight years or so, their numbers will, in fact, be very consistent with the last count that would appear back in the early 2000s.

With the other herds, they have stabilized. Some have shown some modest rebounding, but our information tells us they are still in need of careful management and protection. We are putting money in the budget, as we’ve indicated, to continue the work to do the proper science, to do the counting, work with the co-management groups, Aboriginal governments, with the proper mix of traditional knowledge and scientific knowledge to monitor and count the herds so we can make the proper decisions. I would point out, as well, that part of that, even though there’s concern in some quarters, it’s absolutely critical for us to be able to use collars to make use of the best satellite technology and technology to be able to monitor the herd’s whereabouts, at the same time as work very closely with the co-management board and the Aboriginal governments in communities to get on-the-ground reporting, but in terms of being able to cover large

areas of the country and find out and track the herds. It is very important technology for us.

We are committed to working forward with the wind energy in Tuk, along with all the other energy initiatives we have on the table as a government. We collectively, of course, as Mr. Yakeleya pointed out, are very aware and conscious of the weather and changes to the environment and climate that are happening. The feedback we are getting from across the North, not only feedback of an anecdotal basis but being able to see firsthand things that are happening to the environment and things that are going to require very clear attention from us and good planning.

I appreciate the interest in the Sahtu in biomass and potential business opportunities. There are going to be some workshops held up there in the Sahtu this coming year to pursue some of those discussions.

The broader challenge that’s come up here a couple of times now is the whole issue of where are we with recycling. We’ve been focussing on extending the bag levy to make sure that we can restrict even further the plastic bags. We are working and just finalizing our work on e-waste. Other things like the batteries, cars and tire shredding are on our list, but once again it’s a function of capacity and time. We will get there, but we’re focussing this coming year on hopefully coming up with a good e-waste recycling process.

Finally, as I indicated in the House, the intention is after a lot of work and time to come forward, give notice of motion on the 7

th

of March for the

introduction of the Wildlife Act, with first and second reading to be brought before this House and voted on in that week Then the bill would become the property, if it passes, of committee to do the consultation and report back within their 120 days. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.