Thank you, Minister McLeod. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Today I’d like to raise the issue of the Aboriginal Employment Strategy. That framework was worked on and certainly developed in the last government about three years ago. Like the analogy of fireworks, it came out with a big bang, there was a bit of a fizzle and some oohs and ahs and it sort of disappeared. The question really is: What has happened to the Aboriginal Employment Strategy that was once heralded as a new opportunity to tap into a human resource such as the Aboriginal people that has not been promoted often enough? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The strategy still exists, the committee that’s been put together to provide recommendations to the Minister and the department on Aboriginal employment in the Northwest Territories did go through a bit of a hiccup. We did lose a couple of members after the election as a result of changes in professions. We got that back up and running about two months ago and they’ve been starting to meet again and they’re back providing us some direction and information. I’m looking forward to their input.

Thank you. That was a good segue into my next question, which is I’m under the understanding that the advisory committee hasn’t met for almost a year. So if it’s finally back on track or the wheels of this machinery are moving along, what have they actually produced in the last, I’ll call it the term or the inception of the Aboriginal strategy and how much money has been invested to develop what we’re about to hear from the Minister?

I don’t know how much money was spent in the last government, I don’t have that data, but I will certainly get that for the Member. The Member is absolutely right. Since the election of this Assembly, they haven’t had an opportunity to get to meet because they actually fell apart because a number of the members changed their professions. We’ve got that committee back together and they will be meeting soon. They will be pulling together some recommendations and I will be sharing those with my colleagues once I have them.

The next question of course is: What have they produced to date? I appreciate the

Minister has just pointed out that they have not met, but this Aboriginal strategy must have produced something since its inception.

My focus to date has actually been to try and get them back up and running. With respect to the specific output or the specific recommendations that they’ve provided to the last Assembly, I will certainly gather that information to share with my colleagues.

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

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I’d like to follow up with my earlier questions but broaden the category to a discussion of the issues that this government has or should have with Ottawa. The first one I’d like to discuss is the Canada-European Union Free Trade Agreement. Noting that Europe is now demanding extension of brand use names of drug patents and along with extension of the time that the brand name companies can keep the recipes for those drugs secret so that generic drugs cannot be produced, this would drive up the cost of drugs. Premiers across the country have been reacting and, according to Premier Clark in BC, writing Ottawa objecting to this. Ottawa so far is silent on the issue. Has the Premier written Ottawa to object to that demand from Europe in these free trade discussions of which we’re a part?

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

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have not written to the Prime Minister on this.

Here when we are at the table on such a high-profile agreement that can obviously influence us and our costs, as Mr. Ramsay mentioned yesterday in the House, this is a real privilege and opportunity and, I would say, a real responsibility. So will the Premier get busy and write Ottawa, object to this, let the Prime Minister know, and our negotiators, that we would object to this because it will raise the price of drugs for our people?

As the Member indicated, we are participating in these negotiations and we do have representation. I will discuss with the Minister responsible and I’m prepared to write to the Prime Minister.

The second one I have here is the Fisheries Act which was mentioned before. Professional fisheries biologists and administrators across the country are on record regarding the

proposed gutting of the Fisheries Act – not my words. The Premier’s earlier response indicated he did not appear to be on top of that issue. I wonder if he would commit to doing an analysis, having his government do an analysis, and see if it is indeed in line with the sort of thinking that we are proposing for post-devolution or even today.

It appears the Member opposite has a tendency for hyperbole. We are very knowledgeable of what’s going on with the Fisheries Act. Our Minister of ENR has written to the federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to get more detail on the proposed changes and to see what implications it has for the Northwest Territories.

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

Thank you, Madam Speaker. That’s excellent news. I appreciate that the Premier is way ahead of me on this one. I’m glad to hear that he’s on that. I would appreciate it if he would inform the House about what he finds out there and his assessment of the response.

My last question is, obviously this is just one example, it happens to be an extremely important one for the people of the Northwest Territories, but people all over Canada, and most recently expressed by the people of the Northwest Territories yesterday in downtown Yellowknife, are concerned and carrying on protests in reaction to the escalating Government of Canada’s actions which seem to be governing on a very narrow gauge as opposed to responding to all the needs of Canadians. Is the Premier aware of this and the sentiments that are being expressed by our public on these issuesÉ

Okay, it seems like we’ve changed topics, but I guess it’s somewhat related. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I’ll be very pleased to share the information that we receive, like we always do, with the other side. We are also paying very close attention to Canada’s Economic Action Plan 2012 related to responsible economic development. I am led to understand that there are some people that have some concerns with what the federal government is proposing.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. David Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. That is something that we would give some consideration to if we were to receive such a proposal.