Natural Resources committee  We haven't, not at this point in time.

Natural Resources committee  Of course!

Natural Resources committee  That's correct. The order in council is usually a procedural matter that follows any NEB decision. It gives effect to the NEB decision.

Natural Resources committee  Yes, it would be very unusual.

Natural Resources committee  Typically an order in council would take four to six weeks following the NEB decision. This decision occurred right before Christmas, so I would expect it could be longer. We're right at the eight-week point now, so we're right at the tail end of what would be normal. I have not

Natural Resources committee  The concern is that the NEB certificate contained a number of conditions, one of which was a sunset date that indicated we must commence construction no later than December 31, 2015. We have about three years of detailed engineering work and permitting, as I mentioned—about 7,000

Natural Resources committee  That's correct. It's unusual in this circumstance, because it's winter-only construction; the tundra will not support heavy equipment.

Natural Resources committee  What I meant by that is when you first commence operations for a shale gas well, there's a large initial output from the well; then it declines as much as 65% in the first year, and then it continues on out. There's not a great deal of experience with shale gas. It's a relative

Natural Resources committee  Yes, that's correct. As you're aware, a shale well is drilled vertically, and then there's horizontal drilling that can go out for a kilometre or so. That's done because they have to fracture the shale rock to release the gas. Once they've done that, the output from the well is

Natural Resources committee  No, there are published numbers to support those data. That's for a typical well. Some are higher and some are lower, of course.

Natural Resources committee  It is important to note that we're an alignment of three aboriginal groups in the Mackenzie Valley. The aboriginal groups actually approached our other partners--Imperial Oil, ConocoPhillips, Shell, and ExxonMobil--prior to an application even being filed for the pipeline project

Natural Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and honourable members. We appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today to highlight the importance of the Mackenzie gas project, not only to our northern stakeholders but to Canada as a whole. There are two points that I want to leave with you

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It is a study that was done for us last July, and we're just getting it updated.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's a very good question, and one we've been keeping a very close eye on. There are shale gas developments not just in Canada—in particular, northeast B.C.—but also in the United States, and right down in the heart of the market. We've had Ziff Energy, an energy consulting fir

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The funds you're referring to are part of a federal grant that provides for our operating expenses. Initially, we had an arrangement, and it was actually finalized by Robert Nault, who was, I believe, from the Kenora riding a number of years ago. That was a six-year arrangement.