Bob McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have had those discussions on several occasions with the Government of Canada, first and foremost during the development of the agreement-in-principle. We couldn’t resolve it, so it was punted to the negotiations of the final agreement, so to speak. We made some progress by the fact that they have agreed that royalties will be paid on two-thirds of the Norman Wells interest. The Government of Canada remains steadfast, though, that their one-third share is ownership, it’s a commercial interest and that it is not a royalty. On that basis they do not see fit to pay...

We definitely want to make sure that is the case. That’s why the legal and technical review of the final agreement that we’re doing right now is so important, because we want to make sure that doesn’t happen.

As part of the negotiations process, we were able to limit the extent of the Norman Wells oilfield so that for a period of time they were looking at all of the Norman Wells area that would be covered. We were able to limit it just to the existing oilfield from Norman Wells. We also discussed, and the Prime Minister mentioned it in his response to a question, that from time to time the Government of Canada sells off assets of commercial interest and if it does happen, then there might be a possibility there for royalties.

I should point out that in the ‘80s, or when the Gwich’in and the Sahtu...

Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories Lands and Resources Final Agreement represents an important step forward for the Northwest Territories and the people we serve through this Assembly.

As I have stated before, devolution of lands and resources will provide tremendous benefits to the people of the Northwest Territories. Devolution means that decisions made over public lands and resources in the Northwest Territories will be made here, by a more accessible, accountable and responsive government. Devolution means, finally, a direct benefit in the form of resource revenues will flow to the...

I would consider that as internal to the Government of the Northwest Territories. Every employee swears an oath of office and we consider it on that basis.

Maybe the Member could clarify. First there’s not enough information, now she’s saying there’s too much information going out. We want to make sure that we do this properly and we will commit… We had talked to the Members about those departments and we’re waiting for feedback.

We also learned a lot from division of the Northwest Territories, where Nunavut had transition agreements with the Government of the Northwest Territories. So we are looking at the possibility of doing that. We are also fully committed to decentralization. I expect that we’ll be able to handle the human resource requirements during the transition so we can continue to function without missing a beat. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess the big number in the Devolution Agreement is the amount of money. Obviously, we want as many people or federal incumbents that are in those jobs to come over. But at the end of the day, we make the decision of how many jobs we will have. Obviously, we will be making job offers and the agreement requires us to make sure that every federal employee that comes over is no worse off than they are now financially, and we are required to adhere to that for three years. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It seems like just yesterday that some of the Members from across the way were quoting from the Commissioner of the Environment, who was complaining about the fact that the federal government was only doing 20 percent of the required land inspections. I’m sure we can do better than that, but if the Member wants us to maintain that level, we can do that too.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, to both parts.