Mr. Speaker, we as a government intend to come forward with a Greenhouse Gas Strategy that will address all of these critical areas and it may, in fact, become the position of the government, if not this government maybe the 17

th

Assembly, that we are going to look

at building standards that are applied across the Territory for all construction and all levels of government.

At this point, we have the system that we just talked about. The work is underway to see where the improvements are necessary in terms of regulation and governance, and before this strategy is finalized, it will be up to ourselves, myself and the Member for Weledeh and all the other MLAs in this House, to make sure that it addresses what we think are the needs and priorities of the government or the people in the Northwest Territories and this Legislative Assembly. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister’s comments again here. I think I will look forward to that work. Basically what we need to be doing is determining here what gains can be achieved with this move. That is the responsibility of this Minister at this moment in time so we can use this tool appropriately and responsibly. Does the Minister agree that the standards we have for the GNWT that allow us to benefit so much should be available and made available to all members of the Northwest Territories for all infrastructure? Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, I think it behooves us all to have as energy-efficient building standards for all people in the Northwest Territories as possible. The issue is going to be to sort through the regulatory and government’s issues to, in fact, be able to allow ourselves to do that so that we, in fact, as the Member indicated, will have a common standard that is as high as the government sets for itself. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have taken a request for negotiated contract to Cabinet. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, my understanding of all the letters that I have submitted to the Minister asking for negotiated contracts, not once did I get a response back to those letters asking for negotiated contracts that those contracts went to Cabinet or have been rejected outright by the Minister. Why have you not passed on the message that those contracts have been dealt with in Cabinet and when can I see those letters? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the Member is asking me why I haven’t brought a negotiated contract forward to Cabinet. I have brought requests forward. It was last year. He didn’t say where it was. If he meant in his particular riding, then I haven’t brought anything forward. I would make recommendations to Cabinet on whether to proceed with the negotiated contract or not. We are following policy and the policy states quite clearly that a negotiated contract is to help the local contractor build capacity so they can compete in an open market. I follow these things quite closely and I have enough confidence in local contractors, not only for their ability to do the work but their ability to compete in an open market. Having said that, we have fulfilled our obligations as a government as far as a negotiated contract policy goes. We have a lot more contractors out there getting their start through negotiated contracts, that are able to bid in a competitive market and are actually doing quite better bidding in a competitive market than they are getting negotiated contracts. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, again, I just spoke to the president of the Aklavik Community Corporation in regards to the Aklavik proposal which went forward to the Minister and myself in which it clearly stipulated a contract that they were looking at has gone to an Inuvik company. Again, all we are going to see are headlights coming from Inuvik and

driving back to Inuvik at five o’clock. Again, the companies that are benefitting from these contracts in our communities are Inuvik companies. I would like to know, is there a guarantee that those contract dollars will remain in the community and how they benefit the community where those contracts are being let. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure what the particulars of this case are. As far as I know, we do have some units that are slated for construction in the Member’s riding, one of the communities in the Member’s riding that he pointed out. We have been receiving letters requesting negotiated contracts. One of our policies says that if you get two or more requests for a negotiated contract, then we have to evaluate that. The one the Member is speaking of in particular, I am not quite sure which one that is. If it is one that we just awarded recently, I don’t know that. I have seen no requests for negotiated contract for that particular part. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just gave the Minister two letters lately from Fort McPherson and from Aklavik in regards to housing contracts and put in without local tendering or basically allow for some sort of local preferential treatment be treated for these units going into my constituents. I would like to ask the Minister, can he assure me that those contracts will have a fair airing that will go to Cabinet and the Cabinet will make the decision to go or not to go in regards to the contracts in my riding.

Mr. Speaker, we are still in the process of determining how we are going to procure those particular contracts. There has been no decision made yet. We look at all the information we get. Again I say, if we get two or more letters for a negotiated contract, one of them may have the Member’s support, one may not. How do we determine? The thing is, the contractors now all have the ability. Again, it goes back to policy. The purpose of the policy is to allow those contractors that are just starting up, trying to get their foot in the door, an opportunity to do so. If they prove that they are able to do the work and they are able to bid in a competitive market, then we have fulfilled our obligation. We are starting to see more and more local contractors that are doing that. They are competing with contractors from outside the community. They are given preferential treatment just for being situated in the community. It is a 5 percent preferential treatment, 15 percent northern, so they have proven that they are able to compete. I can assure the Member that no decision has been made on these particular ones that he is filed the letters on. We will have a look at them. It will be at ministerial discretion. I will be able to make a

recommendation to Cabinet as to whether we proceed or not with the negotiated contract. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. I have some questions for the Minister in regards to the draft Wildlife Act. One of the clauses of the draft act speaks to the power of the Minister to establish conservation areas. The Minister knows from both me and from submissions made by various organizations that this is a concern and particularly for mining industries and companies. As a government, I believe the GNWT states that we want both economic development and the preservation of the environment, so I’d like to ask the Minister what percentage of land does the GNWT intend to keep open and accessible for economic development. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That particular clause that the Member references has been amended so that any plan to make any areas conservation areas or to withdraw any land will be decided on by Cabinet. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. I didn’t hear the answer to the question there. I’d like to know if the GNWT has a policy or has any kind of an idea in their mind... Does GNWT, as a government or as a Cabinet, have a percentage of land that they intend to keep open and accessible for economic development? Thank you.

Thank you. That’s not really specific or germane to the Wildlife Act. It is a discussion that we’ve had when we’ve talked about land use for example with the Dehcho Land Use Plan and other areas. As we look at finalizing our land use framework, we will be dealing more precisely with that particular issue. Thank you.

Thank you. I’d like to say to the Minister that I guess we have to agree to disagree, because I think the Wildlife Act is impacted through conservation areas on economic development, and particularly mining exploration and mining operations. I have heard that organizations in discussion with this government have been advised that some 45 percent of our lands will be kept open for economic development. In my mind, that’s far too large a number and I’d like to know from the Minister if that’s accurate. Thank you.

Thank you. The Member and I will have to agree to disagree. The issue of land quantum of what’s going to be available for economic development is not part of the Wildlife Act, which is designed to look at wildlife management and wildlife issues. That issue will be dealt with and is being dealt with as we look at some of the broader discussion areas like the land use framework that we’re talking about and as we sit down on a region-by-region basis once again in areas like the Deh Cho or the Sahtu and the Gwich’in where land use plans are being worked on. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.