That’s one of the wonderful things about our consensus style of government: Members are fully aware of the work that’s going on. The Minister updates the committee and he would be able to inform them as to what level of work is going on, and the future Assembly

could also make recommendations as this work will have to continue on into the 17

Assembly.

One of the things we’ve done in the life of this government is looking at how departments have been performing with budgets, and look at the growing demand for more resources, and have an internal look at it that way as we do the work around refocusing our government. The additional work of these types of audits has been done in the past on a number of our corporations. That is as the Auditor General of Canada’s office makes that request, we co-operate and they do that review. The other way is Members of this Assembly can call on that and we wait for a response from the Auditor General. That is one of the methods that we do use, and a number of our corporations have been called into this review process.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On top of the process that we have in place where our corporations table their annual reports and business plans in this Assembly, that’s one method where Members have access and can measure how our corporations have done business. As for the ongoing work around the Financial Administration Act, I will have to speak to the Minister on that work and see what’s been incorporated and the timelines for that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Along with the recognition of a few others that have already been recognized here, I’d like to welcome the chair of the Inuvialuit Game Council, Mr. Frank Pokiak, and Larry and Yvonne Carpenter as well. We have some other folks from the Inuvialuit Game Council; Steven Baryluk, Jennifer Lam and Bruce Hanbidge. As well, I’d like to extend our welcome to the grand chief of the Tlicho and the chiefs as well that have joined us. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Even as we try to come to terms with the tragedy that unfolded in our territory over the weekend, we were faced this morning by more sad news: the untimely passing of the Honourable Jack Layton, who until his recent leave of absence led Canada’s New Democratic Party and the Official Opposition in our federal Parliament.

Mr. Layton’s political accomplishments, particularly during the most recent federal election, are known and documented for all Canadians. He will be remembered in large part for changing the political landscape of our country, and for his trademark spirit of optimism and hope.

His political career from the time he was first elected to municipal office to his time on Parliament Hill was built on the cornerstone of strong ethics and hard work. “Smiling Jack” personified those traits that we as Northerners like to profess as our own. He was a people’s leader, a fighter for social justice, seemingly resilient in the face of challenge.

His close ties and friendships in our territory reflected his fondness for our North and its people. He enjoyed our community events, not wearing a suit but in working man’s attire: jeans, no tie, and his shirt rolled up at the sleeves.

In the coming days and months Jack Layton will be heralded for his political accomplishments and hard work. More importantly, he will be remembered

through the years as a great Canadian, missed by his many colleagues, friends, and loved ones.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On behalf of this 16

Assembly, our government,

and all residents of the Northwest Territories, I offer condolences today to those individuals and families who are mourning the loss of colleagues, friends, relatives, and loved ones as a result of this weekend’s tragic crash of First Air flight 6560 near Resolute Bay.

Despite the vast distances that separate us we, as Northerners, are a tightly knit community and the impact of this tragedy extends well beyond the boundaries of our northern territories to touch us all. Our lives in communities will be forever changed.

Yet in the midst of this horrific event, we also recognize the miracle of those lives that were spared. Acknowledging the contributions and quick response of the military personnel and volunteers who were pressed into action unexpectedly and under very trying circumstances, we thank them today for their call to duty and their service this weekend.

Mr. Speaker, our North can be harsh and unforgiving, but in this unpredictable environment

we are reliant on the northern airline industry and the men and women who use it daily to deliver and provide the essential goods and services on which our communities and our people count on.

Despite the events of this weekend, these individuals will be at work again today, no doubt with heavy hearts and minds.

Today, in particular, our thoughts and prayers are with them, especially those in the First Air family, ever mindful of their loss and with a renewed sense of appreciation and gratitude for their work and commitment that benefits us all.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As the Finance Minister stated, he’ll get the additional information and provide that to Members. In our budget submission I believe we shared with committee a fair bit of that, but we’ll get the additional information.

More importantly, as was stated earlier by the Finance Minister in an earlier question around implementation, this isn’t the full implementation of working to implement the deal. This is preparation for implementation. The one thing we’ve learned, as the Minister has stated, from the Yukon experience -- and the Member knows this himself from his own

work in negotiations -- there’s a big push for negotiations and when that’s done, it seems like everybody runs in a different direction and those that are left to implement find that it’s difficult to implement without that background in some of that work. That’s what we learned from the Yukon, is that as they signed their agreement, the implementation side were not really prepared for it and that took a lot of additional work. As we prepare for those, we’re also preparing for some of the challenges that we would need around implementation and making sure that we have the right information. If you negotiate a bad deal to begin with, implementation is going to be even worse. The Member is aware of that. We’ll get the additional information and provide the breakdown of the work and the percentages of the budget.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The budget that’s being allocated for them is to help them in preparation for the negotiations and being involved in the direct negotiations that they would be included in. For example, the bilaterals or the overall preparation for main table discussions.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Miltenberger has touched on it and I know the Members brought this up in discussions in this Assembly in the past about preparation for taking over the regime itself and the work. As we stated in this House, we’re unable to begin that work until we own the legislation. This money is identified for the preparation up to and including negotiations. Once a final agreement is signed, then we can look at doing that work about making changes as we see fit in the Northwest Territories. This request does not include that style of work of changing a made-in-the-North regulatory regime. It doesn’t incorporate that at this time.