Natural Resources committee  I believe you could do the consultation and regulatory process in a two-year window if you removed the duplication that exists in the system today.

Natural Resources committee  It depends on how you consult, I would guess.

Natural Resources committee  I'll echo Ms. Babcock's comments that through impact and benefit agreements, there are percentages that need to be northern hired and percentages that need to be northern-aboriginal hired, which is excellent. I said earlier that 75 to 100 aboriginal-owned businesses have been cre

Natural Resources committee  Again, I did mention social licensing. As projects move forward in the Northwest Territories, industry certainly realizes they have to play their part, and industry certainly will play their part in order to advance projects.

Natural Resources committee  With the Mackenzie Valley highway, the great thing is all the project development reviews are in the books. It's ready to go. It just needs funding. Are there hurdles to overcome in physically building roads? Absolutely, but I think all your regulatory work is done.

Natural Resources committee  There certainly needs to be the ability to bring more aboriginal business to the forefront. With the creation of the three diamond mines, there have been approximately 75 to 100 aboriginal businesses created and benefiting from those mines over the last 15 years. We need to be ab

Natural Resources committee  Correct.

Natural Resources committee  Certainly one might only look at the Mackenzie Valley pipeline, which has the aboriginal pipeline group as a major stakeholder. Land claims groups throughout the Mackenzie Valley were all offered equity positions in that pipeline and still are today, if they want to get on board.

Natural Resources committee  With the stalling in a lot of these projects because of the regulatory process, aboriginal shareholders...does it help to get these projects going? Certainly for any of these groups that are offered an equity position, it does add value to the project but there are no projects go

Natural Resources committee  As we go forward and the Government of the Northwest Territories strives to put in an economic development strategy, it would certainly level the playing field. Many of us have been in the north for a number of years and have experienced the bust cycle in the 1990s, and certainly

Natural Resources committee  Absolutely, it has been one of the five priorities that the chamber of the Northwest Territories has been lobbying for. We've taken it to the Canadian chamber to have regulatory change championed. It's certainly important to the Northwest Territories Chamber of Commerce.

Natural Resources committee  I don't think we see it that way in the Northwest Territories. The consultation took much too long. I think it was in the neighbourhood of seven years to consult with the aboriginal groups throughout the Mackenzie Valley and into Yellowknife.

Natural Resources committee  That's certainly part of it. If there were definitive timelines set for the joint review panel in order to get their work done, I think you would see that project under construction today.

Natural Resources committee  I think at that time, if the proponent were.... Let's say the markets didn't enable the project to be profitable, that would allow the proponent to stop or put the project on hold.

Natural Resources committee  Certainly aboriginal consultation is a major part of that. We're trying to say that industry is certainly ready and prepared to consult with the aboriginal people and that perhaps it's more of a Government of Canada issue. In any of the projects I've seen go through, any of the