Thank you, Mr. Chair. I can't commit to that right now, but we will have a look at it and see how we are going to move this forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I look forward to the Minister getting back to me on that. Our government has publicly endorsed the declaration, and free, prior, and informed consent is an integral part of that, so we want to make sure that our communities are fully informed and that they have the ability to say no where they desire to do so.

I want to turn now to a couple of other areas, if I can. Given that the Minister himself yesterday said that there is no prospect of any oil and gas development here for another 10 years, is the department still working on this oil and gas strategy and, if so, why? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Schumann.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we are still working on this moving forward. We have drafted a strategy that offers a viable balance and a made-in-the-NWT approach to advancing oil and gas development in the Northwest Territories. I don't know if the Member has any more questions on it, but we are working on it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So why do we continue to work on this strategy if there is no prospect of any oil and gas development in the next 10 years? I am just quoting from what the Minister said yesterday in the House.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Schumann.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I said yesterday, there is probably no probability of anything happening in the next 10 years, but the truth is that we don't control the commodities markets. We don't know what is going to happen. It is no different than the previous question, why we have employees in the petroleum division. We have to work on a number of things, our legislative proposals and such. We might as well be working on a strategy at this time, as well, when things are in a downturn, so it just makes sense to continue moving that forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I guess I would suggest to the Minister that he divert the resources that are going into this strategy into economic diversification, as one of my colleagues mentioned a few minutes ago. I have some other questions, though, Mr. Chair. I would like to get back onto your list, if I could. I do appreciate the time with the Minister, and I will have more questions for him. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Schumann.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would just like to remind the Members that this is also a mandate commitment in the mandate of the 18th Legislative Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. O'Reilly, your time has expired. We will move on next to Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I just want to go back to a couple of aspects to get some further clarification from the Minister and the department. Some time ago in the House, the Minister spoke about a program called Introduction to Prospecting and that these were some courses that were hosted in collaboration with the Mine Training Society, mining companies, and the department. It was to support the development of an educated, trained, and readily available Northern workforce. I am just wondering if the Minister can indicate for us out of what contribution or out of what fund has that program been funded out of and will it continue to be funded out of? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister Schumann.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That money comes out of the NWT Chamber of Mines, the contribution that we make to them. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the clarification. Further, and I think this was the point that my colleague was raising earlier, and he may have confused which contribution line he was referring to, so with regard to the Mackenzie Valley development contributions, we have seen that there has been significant contribution in the past and now it has sunsetted. I believe the question was: would there be reconsideration from the Minister and the department to reinstate that sunset? I mean, we know that this is programming that makes contribution to resource pre-development programs and Aboriginal capacity-building, and so I am wondering if the Minister will give consideration to reinstatement to the Mackenzie Valley Development contributions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister Schumann.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This reduction of the Mackenzie Valley Development Corporations was in response to the Mackenzie Valley Gas Project and these drivers no longer exist, so this was taken out of the budget as there's no activity on that presently; but as for helping out Aboriginal organizations, there's money in the Aboriginal Mineral Development Support Program, the $100,000 on the top line. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister Schumann. Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the Minister for his reply. As the Minister is aware, and as was alluded to previously by my colleague, the Priority and Planning Committee has let the Minister and the department know that we have proposed an increase to the Mining Incentive Program, and the Minister has indicated to this House in the past that that program has been very successful and in fact over-subscribed. He has also indicated that our annual investment of $400,000 has resulted in additional $3.36 million in exploration spending in the NWT by companies and prospectors. I mean, that's some pretty powerful immediate impacts and benefits to be had by the territory, especially in boosting the economic development and support for resource development.

We're indicating that we would like to see an increase to that program, and if the Minister is to accept the increase it's going to be about $1 million in total. The way I look at it, if we were to crunch some basic numbers, that would equal an $8.4 million expenditure in exploration and spending. So I don't know that I would put the Minister on the spot as it relates to will he accept that at this point, but I certainly want it to be on the record to let the Minister know that this is the reason why we're standing by this increase to this particular program. It's clearly a successful one. The Minister even alluded earlier that for every $1 spent in exploration there's a return of $1.50 or more.

We did hear also down at Roundup that, you know, the Yukon and Nunavut's exploration expenditures have gone up significantly in the last couple years, and ours in fact has gone down. It's this kind of contribution to exploration that we think can have some immediate benefits and some immediate effects on our economy, so I just want to put that on the record.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. I'll take that as a comment. Next on our list we have Mr. Nadli.