With the protocol agreements and conventions that we have in place, the Members are made aware of everything that we do. They’re provided with timelines and so on and I believe the 17th Assembly has followed it from day one. These protocols were introduced in the 16th and they’ve been reviewed and updated and we continue to update them on a regular basis to deal with issues like the Member is raising. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Premier. Many think this government has lacked imagination and progressive thinking in seeking new solutions to long-standing issues and to the public’s repeated attempts to be recognized. For example, impacts of a global economy with the majority of benefits flowing away from the NWT and the costing left to our people is something the people have been questioning for some time.

How does the Premier think this government could become more responsive to the changing realities that global forces now subject the North to and to the public’s voice and input? Mahsi.

We recognize that those changes are happening and we commit, as we go forward, the 18th Assembly will review those processes and consult with the people to ensure that we are on a program which we can deal with along with other provinces and territories. A lot of the changes are national and international, so we have to make sure that we also participate in those processes as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Premier McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know the Sahtu has a rich history in mining. We think that with the downturn in the oil and gas, there is certainly potential in that area.

With the mineral strategy, there are opportunities to have regional mineral approaches. Certainly, this is something that we would like to pursue and work with the Sahtu government since they have the land claim settled. I think there are opportunities there that we can work together on. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Premier is dead on with this exchange. Within the realm of our government, an election will be happening soon, and something the government can look forward towards, and maybe put together, is a Sahtu mineral strategy conference in region so we can have a good, accurate assessment of what is there in the Sahtu with regard to a mineral strategy.

We think that’s a very important initiative not only for the Sahtu but in other regions of the Northwest Territories. Despite the fact that we’re very close to election mode and we are also having to follow transitional operational guidelines, we will have our bureaucracy, so we can set the wheels in motion. They can start doing preparatory work so when the 18th Assembly is in place, we can hit the ground running or start working on it and get them to deal with it right away. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

What the Premier is saying is indeed good news. We can get the motion in gear and have some discussion with our leadership, land corporations, and look at some maps and see what needs to happen in terms of a good conference to get a good, accurate assessment of what is in the Sahtu and what areas we can look at to improve the development of a mineral strategy that the Sahtu region can work towards in five or 10 years as to how to extract or develop a mineral strategy and something like the Selwyn-Chihong operation that is expected to go into a billion dollar production sometime in the future.

I’ve had the opportunity to travel to Selwyn with the Member in the 16th Assembly. Certainly, the potential there is tremendous and the largest portion is in the Territories. It’s a tremendous opportunity for not only the Sahtu but the Northwest Territories. We will have to pursue that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I enjoyed the tour with the Premier when we had that visit into the Sahtu. I know other areas in the Northwest Territories are rich in minerals. When we look at the Sahtu mineral strategy, we are looking at also the types of infrastructure that can help us with our mineral strategy. One of them is the Mackenzie Valley Highway.

Is that something we can look at in all aspects of the mineral strategy, so we can get our people to look at the area, look at the environment, look at the infrastructure and say we have a plan for the Sahtu to extract, develop and produce some of our rich minerals?

I know the Member was listening very closely when the Minister of Transportation was talking about our highway priorities. Certainly, the Mackenzie Valley Highway would certainly facilitate development in those areas. A highway would change the logistics of quite a number of projects, not only on the mineral side but oil and gas side. I really believe it would facilitate those projects to move into production. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Yellowknife for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Minister of Justice. It’s regarding RCMP and their side job, if I may describe it that way, in transporting prisoners back and forth between the jails. It’s been brought to my attention that the RCMP do this activity regularly. The question came as why doesn’t the sheriff’s office either use their existing resources or bolster their resources to do that particular job?

Frankly, we all know that a member of the RCMP, when you do what’s called the all-in cost, runs in the range of $175,000 to $200,000. It’s much more cost effective to have the sheriff’s office doing those duties between their other ones if they are shuffling prisoners back and forth between the jail and the courthouse. The point is I think it’s better use of RCMP time to put their service in the community, responding to crime and investigating crime.

Has the department investigated this idea and what consideration have they put to it? If they haven’t, will they?

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister of Justice, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To my knowledge, it’s corrections services that transports people back and forth between the facility and the courthouse. I can look into this matter further for the Member and get some further detail, but to my knowledge, it’s corrections services that provides that service and not the RCMP. Thank you.

I know that that’s probably normally the case that the corrections services does that one, but there’s also interjurisdictional travel that is required by shuffling inmates back and forth or other types of similar situations, and we bring the RCMP off duty and they have to find folks to wear that duty outside of normal operating hours, and that affects the RCMP, and everyone complains in this community that they’re unable to get more RCMP on the ground doing the job that they do, and they certainly do so well.

When it comes to interjurisdictional transfers of prisoners and usages of those types of resources, would the Minister investigate the possibility of using the sheriff’s office? If they don’t have the resources, bolster the resources appropriately, because it’s cheaper for us to afford a few extra hours as the sheriff doing that duty than it is taking an RCMP off the street.

It would go back to the circumstances surrounding the individual who was being transported, but again, to my knowledge, the corrections service does supply that type of duty or obligation in getting inmates transferred from facility to facility. But again, depending on the nature of the individual and security risk, the RCMP may be involved in that. As to whether or not the sheriff’s office could take part in transferring folks around, again, that’s something that I’ll go back to the department and ask them about.

Well, if the Minister is not sure it happens, I can tell you, I was in a plane recently and there were two RCMP officers shepherding an inmate from a court duty in Alberta back to the Northwest Territories. I do know it happens. I’ve seen it personally, and I’ve seen it personally from my experience working at the correctional centre many years ago, that I know that they do this duty occasionally.

What I’m asking for is: Is the Minister willing to do an evaluation of the resources on that particular matter that evaluates the cost effectiveness of taking RCMP off the street, from providing policing, responding to crime and investigating crime, to considering putting the sheriffs into that particular role? They do it in other regions such as all the provinces across Canada. Why can’t we consider the same type of functionality of our sheriff’s office?

I do know and I am aware that the RCMP do provide transport and do that type of work. I’ve seen it myself as well. I will go back to the department, as I mentioned in response to a previous question, and get some further detail on this.

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