Mr. Speaker, part of the issue that we take with this legislation is that in my opinion it is not clear on subsurface rights. It certainly does not have the same type of context that we had in either the Canada-Newfoundland or Canada-Nova Scotia offshore agreements. More clarity is obviously needed in that respect.
I noted with interest that the hon. member mentioned that the southern shore of Newfoundland is a hotbed of hockey. Certainly one of the things he might be interested in is the fact that hockey is a very intensely played game in Nunavut and all over Canada's north. It would be an adventure, perhaps, to see the players on the southern shore of Newfoundland challenge some of the players in the north. It would be a long way to travel to lose a game of hockey, but I suggest that he might want to try that.
The issue of subsurface rights was part of the hon. member's question. Subsurface rights are fairly well described in this legislation in regard to the Nunavut land claims areas. There is no guarantee that the federal government gives the local government first option on subsurface rights outside of the land claims areas as far as my definition of the bill goes. It absolutely needs greater clarity and we will be revisiting that aspect of the bill.