Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure again to welcome Jeff Corradetti to the House. Welcome, Jeff. You’re making a habit of this.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Item 6, acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The legal consequences of the China-Canada Trade Agreement will be irreversible by any Canadian court or others for 31 years after the treaty is given effect. To sue a Chinese company requires only a minority share in a Canadian asset, and they’ll be able to challenge Canadian federal, territorial, provincial, et cetera, decisions outside of the Canadian legal system and Canadian courts. Our ability to ensure local benefits under socio-economic agreements or set out environmental conditions that diminish profits is questionable.

My question is for the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations. I’d like to ask what input we have had to these agreements. I am assuming this is a concern of the government and have we strenuously objected to those provisions.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The question the Member is asking is very timely, considering we have just returned from a recent Council of Federation visit to China and noted the considerable interest in investing in Canada by the Chinese and vice versa. I can assure the Member that the CETA that he is referring to is not a trade agreement, but rather a bilateral agreement with

China that will provide for reciprocity and protect investors that invest in China.

I appreciate the Minister’s comments. I wish they were relevant to my question.

I guess I would ask him again, national health spending on pharmaceuticals increased about $7 billion between 2005 and 2010. Under the CETA proposed provisions, costs would increase a further 22 percent. Our Ministers have told us these are significant proportions of our costs. We can’t be silent on this.

Will the Premier vigorously communicate to the federal government the negative consequences of such an agreement to our interests and ask that the drug provisions not be allowed, or has he done that already?

I’d like to answer his question but he keeps changing his question. I think now that he’s asking questions about the European Trade Agreement, we are participating in those negotiations and we are providing our input into those discussions.

Some people, obviously, would call this agreement with China selling out the farm. Obviously, from our recent visit to China that the Premier mentioned, there is no lack of interest. I don’t see the need to sell the farm in order to generate business with China.

In terms of the European Trade Agreement, other provisions would also limit territorial and provincial jurisdictions’ abilities to legislate local purchasing preference, exactly what our BIP, for example, was created to achieve. These were enabled under the NAFTA provisions to protect these provisions.

Has the Premier written, or will he write to the Prime Minister and state this government’s strong opposition to the creation of any such restrictions under a new European Trade Agreement?

There are 24 FEPAs, as we call it, that are in place or underway. There are no negotiations with regard to the bilateral agreement between Canada and China. It’s been negotiated, it’s been agreed to so that there is reciprocity between both countries and the investments made by Canadians in China would be protected. It is going forward for approval and we are waiting to see what happens there, because it will provide benefits for investors both into Canada and by Canadians into China.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I assume from the responses so far that, in fact, we have had no input to that agreement with China, that bilateral agreement. The Quebec government has invited comments from its citizens to add the

public voice to its opposition or input. This government has announced its intention to consult the public on a new economic development strategy.

Will the Premier ensure that any consultation on new Cabinet policy invites our citizens to state their views on the need for local preference policies, and in the meantime express our concerns to the federal government over the potential loss of this power?

A large part of the rationale for engaging in all of these different free trade agreements is to reduce our reliance on trade with the United States. We need to broaden our trade with other countries. We are doing so. We are consulting. We did meet with the NWT Association of Communities and presented to them the discussions we were having on CETA. As part of the development of a new economic strategy, we will make sure that we seek all input.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I spoke about the benefits to the residents of Nahendeh by having an improved Highway No. 7 this year. Now, that’s what I’ve been talking about for years. Once we improve our Highway No. 7, we will improve the economy, we’ll improve tourism and we’ll improve and lower costs of living.

I would like to ask the Minister of Transportation, we’ve got a budget sitting coming up in February/March, can he make a business case through his Department of Transportation to allocate extra resources to Highway No. 7 in the upcoming budget?

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. David Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for his question. Certainly, as we move forward I have made a commitment in this House in the past that Highway No. 7, if and when we find additional capital dollars, we would try to identify funding for Highway No. 7 as we move forward. That is still our intention.

I’m glad of the Minister’s commitment to Highway No. 7. I would, as well, like the Minister to make a business case to our Cabinet for increased investment to Highway No. 7 in the upcoming budget for 2013-2014. Can the Minister do that, working with his Cabinet colleagues?

Again, I have made the commitment in the past. There will be additional funding for Highway No. 7. I certainly look forward to that as the process moves along. We’ll hear more about that at a later date.

With the upcoming budget, will it have plans to chipseal the first 20 kilometres of Highway No. 7 from the BC border towards Fort Liard?

As the Member knows, there are a number of areas of concern on Highway No. 7. In fact, several years ago the section from the BC border to the community was chipsealed. The surface wasn’t such to hold the chipseal in place and needed to be reconstructed. We had reconstructed 20 kilometres of that portion of road. We need to look at the reconstruction to the Liard junction, I believe 38 kilometres. At that time we certainly will look to see if we have any further capital dollars to allow us to chipseal the portion from Fort Liard to the BC border. That is certainly in the plans, but it will require capital dollars to do that.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d just like to urge the Minister, once again, to seriously consider chipsealing Highway No. 7 from the border towards Fort Liard, the 20 kilometres that we had reconstructed. It will just make life so much easier for the residents of Fort Liard that travel those roads, and the men and equipment that are generating revenue by working in BC.

That will have to be balanced with the other urgent demands for the highway further down from the community of Fort Liard. We certainly hope to find a balance to find the money to get the chipsealing done.

Reconstruction of that highway is a major concern for us. I’ve mentioned it before. It will probably require upwards of $200 million to completely reconstruct the highway. We need to reconstruct portions of that highway that are in desperate need of it. That should be where the capital dollars go first.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.