On December 4th The Globe and Mail reported that Prime Minister Stephen Harper had obtained Governor-General Michaëlle Jean's consent to temporarily shut down Parliament until January 26, 2009.

During that time the the Department of Indian Affairs and Minister Chuck Strahl did a number of new releases listed below:

• Indian and Northern Affairs Canada will contributing funding for a feasibility study of the micro-hydro facility at Choutla Creek. (December 4, 2008)

• Fund a business plan for the Mt. Sima Alpine Facility in Whitehorse. (December 11, 2008)

• Progress through Partnerships. (December 11, 2008)

• Officially open the new John Adjuk Community Hall. (December 12, 2008)

• Two pilot initiatives were launched on December 29, 2008 to help with business loans. The Loan Loss Reserve and Major Resource and Energy Development. The Loan Loss Reserve encourages commercial financial institutions to provide debt financing and the Major Resource and Energy Development helps increase the availability of equity funding to Aboriginal businesses.

It is possible that some of these projects may be cancelled, especially the pilot initatives, if a new Government is created after January 26th.