Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The name is irrelevant. The fact is people need to be helped. That’s what matters most, Mr. Speaker. How we get there, what vehicle we use, it doesn’t matter. How many on-the-land programs have been applied for and how many have been funded? The Minister was very articulate explaining how many divisions have been set up and how many people have probably been hired and how many organizations such as regions have been set out money, but I want to hear how many applications have been received and how many have been funded. Thank you.

I don’t have that information at my fingertips, but I will commit to getting that information to the Member. I will remind the Member that there is community wellness money available to all the communities and Tulita, by way of example, did receive $156,880 to run programs that are designed for the people of Tulita by the people of Tulita. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I talked about the Forest Management Agreement. Recently, in October in Fort Providence, there was a very historic and momentous occasion and the Forest Management Agreement was signed between the GNWT and the community. I want to ask the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources if he could update this House in terms of dealing with Fort Providence and the next few steps we can expect. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was, indeed, a good news day. There have been resources provided to the community, both in Res and Providence, by the government to the tune of about $200,000 for each community to help give them the SEED money to hire a manager, and the big other critical piece is negotiations that have to take place between the community and the proponent for the business, Aurora Wood Pellets, to negotiate their economic arrangements, which is well underway, I understand, in both communities. Thank you.

The forest industry in Canada and the NWT is something that has a lot of potential based on the idea that the forest industry, if one would take the task and lead the initiative in creating a business opportunity that’s sustainable and renewable. Can the Department of ENR, Environment and Natural Resources, speak to

whether other communities have expressed interest in establishing a forest management agreement? Thank you.

Jean Marie River, as well, has indicated an interest as well as Kakisa, I understand.

What is this government doing to facilitate future resource management agreements with local Aboriginal corporations? I understand there’s been movement to work with Kakisa and Jean Marie River. Are there other communities down the valley that have stated an interest, and what’s this department doing to help those communities? Mahsi.

We are breaking trail here and we’ve done a significant amount of work over the years to get the first two major signings between Fort Resolution and Fort Providence. We’ve had some additional expressions of interest which we are following up on with Kakisa and Jean Marie River, which are tied into the current project of Aurora Wood Pellets with Mr. Mapes. So we’re going to pay attention to those and make sure the ones we have signed are going to have done what they need to have done and be as supportive as possible in the areas we need to be as this business interest takes off as well as start those preliminary discussions with Kakisa and Jean Marie. If there are other interests of expression over time, we will get to those as we work our way through the next focus in line, which will be Kakisa and Jean Marie. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

I have no questions.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of ITI. I want to ask the Minister of ITI questions for the people in the Sahtu region. What is this government doing to encourage the oil and gas activity in the Northwest Territories?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories is advancing work on the highway from Wrigley to Norman Wells, the next piece in the transportation corridor in the Mackenzie Valley. We have also broken ground on the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Optic Link and we will continue to try to find ways to inject

some life into the economy in the Sahtu. Thank you.

The people also want to know what the government is doing to mitigate the operational cost of oil and gas activity. One of the people I did speak to said that if you had an all-weather road going into the Sahtu, you would cut down 30 percent of their operational expenses. That’s just one oil company. That is what some of the people in the Sahtu want to know. What are some of the things that this government is doing to lower the cost of business? Thank you.

One of the knocks against the NWT in developing our resources and attracting investment is our lack of infrastructure. We understand that, that’s why we are, again, advancing work on the Wrigley to Norman Wells highway. Again, a key piece of transportation infrastructure in this territory.

I mentioned earlier the Fibre Optic Link. We also have to…with the Premier’s announcement in Ottawa during NWT Days that we’re going to move forward with the corridor concept in the Mackenzie Valley for communications, transportation and energy. I think these things need to be thoroughly analyzed. Again, we’ve always had hope for the Mackenzie Gas Project, but maybe we need to shift our focus in other areas as well. So we haven’t given up hope that one day Mackenzie gas will get to market, and we’re watching quite closely what’s happening in British Columbia with LNG opportunities for that province. Our hope is that Mackenzie gas will find its way to market sooner rather than later.

Some of the people that have written to me asked what is the government doing in regard to the anti-fracking movement that seems to be gaining some, rallying around support for a moratorium or banning fracking in the North. So they’re asking what’s going on here, what is the government doing to deal with this, because it could be the death of our economic development in the Sahtu region.

We’ve developed an Oil and Gas 101 program in our visiting Sahtu communities. During the month of February we’re going to engage with communities on this program. In fact, staff were in Norman Wells and Tulita two weeks ago and it’s my understanding that those sessions went extremely well. They’re also planning on going into the communities of Fort Good Hope and Colville Lake later this month and we’re working collaboratively with the Sahtu partnership on this effort, this initiative in the Sahtu.

We are also in the process of developing hydraulic fracturing regulations to ensure that activity in the territory is regulated in an appropriate fashion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this time also, people want to know that since activity is not up to where we want it to be, is there opportunity, from the Minister’s point of view, to work with other departments in regard to a planning session to train our young workers to be ready when the activity happens so that they have qualified, skilled labour ready for the oil rigs and other spinoffs due to oil and gas exploration. Thank you.

Now is certainly the time. There is a pause in the activity in the central Mackenzie Valley. The time is now to train people, get them ready for when the jobs and the work come back and we will continue to work with ECE and Transportation to ensure that people do have opportunities to get trained for the oil jobs when they return. Thank you.