While present efforts are focused on ensuring a strong start for the northern economic development agency, we will continue to work with northerners on further developing the agency, including consideration of the development and passage of enabling legislation if needed, and in-depth policy analysis and consultation to identify gaps in northern economic development programming across the federal, territorial, municipal and aboriginal government landscapes, where there may be a role for federal government to play, or where it could make sense to evolve the delivery of existing programs from other departments to the northern-based agency.

The objective of this review is not to replace but to further develop the Sustainable Development Strategy.

Moreover, the review of the Lisbon strategy is accompanied by the launch also today by the Commission of an updated EU Social Agenda; an agenda mapping out the policies that can help to ensure a more cohesive continent and the further development of our social model in response to unsustainable trends. In this way, our Social Agenda is contributing in its own right to the goal of sustainable development.

The first meeting of the NDP/CSF Monitoring Committee took place in October. It undertook a brief overview of developments to date and agreed to the preparation of a common template for reports to future meetings of Monitoring Committees.

Might I suggest that where there are planning mechanisms and development review mechanisms those processes be modelled after conservation planning commissions rather than development approval commissions?

Items on the agenda will include an examination of the functioning of the Cooperation Agreement and trends in trade between the two parties.