Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.
When the minister announced August 8 that the BHP Diamonds project in the Northwest Territories had received conditional approval, he laid down a 60-day deadline for satisfactory progress to be made on negotiating both an environmental agreement with Ottawa and impact benefits agreements with aboriginal peoples.
Two months later that deadline is upon us. One thousand construction jobs are on the line and the window is quickly closing in which winter work can be contracted that far north. What comes next for Canada's first diamond mine, the BHP Diamond project?