Chair, as you know, this is incredibly complex legislation that has taken a decade of negotiation. As we've heard, and as the NDP amendments have tried to fix, there is language that the northerners felt was inconsistent with the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. There were also concerns from the Nunavut Planning Commission about the lack of funding to properly implement the legislation.
We think that a mandatory five-year review is essential in terms of how this perhaps would have to be tweaked five years from now. Even the Nunavut chamber of mines, and the Prospectors and Developers Association said in their testimony that although they support the legislation, further refinements and adjustments would be necessary.
We feel this approach is consistent with the successful approach in the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act . They argued that they felt an approach could have mitigated the problems with the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act. We are arguing that the requirement for a five-year review is the responsible way for this committee to proceed.
I would like to hear from any member on the other side, other than the parliamentary secretary, on why on earth they wouldn't support this.