Bob McLeod

We had a very good discussion at InterGovernmental Council, where all the Aboriginal governments that participated and signed in to devolution were very supportive of working together and developing the Arctic Policy Framework. We have committed to holding round tables throughout the North with all of the different stakeholders. Certainly, we will be pleased to share drafts of the documents as we go forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I said earlier in response to the Member for Yellowknife North's question, the three northern Premiers were very concerned about the report of the Ministerial Special Representative of the Minister of Indigenous Affairs Canada. She was commissioned to consult with stakeholders and governments through the Arctic, and the terms of reference focused primarily on conservation.

When she met with the Premiers, we felt that the request for increased sustainable development was not reflected in the report. We felt that significant work had been done in developing conservation and protected areas. We...

We support balance, sustainable development, and we believe that with the PanTerritorial Vision for Sustainable Development, at least in the Northwest Territories chapter, we will have some balance between conservation and development. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As part of the overall framework, our government has the opportunity to develop a chapter. We have begun that process with a series of round tables with Indigenous governments, industry, and non-government organizations to identify key issues to include in the NWT chapter. I should point out that Indigenous governments certainly have other opportunities. The Inuit can have input into the ITK chapter. They have alliances with Nunavut, so they could have input in the Nunavut chapter. The federal government is holding parallel round tables throughout the North with the same people. They will be...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Glen Abernethy will be late arriving in the House today due to a personal matter. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have committed to sharing all of the draft documents with all of the stakeholders, including, obviously, the MLAs. I didn't think I had to specifically say it, but that's what I will be doing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

When the Prime Minister and President Obama announced their parallel moratoriums in the Beaufort Sea, the Prime Minister announced that the fact that, when we raised it, there was no accompanying economic development strategy to deal with the fact that we were being asked to leave billions or trillions of dollars' worth of oil and gas in the ground, there was no accompanying economic development strategy to provide jobs for the people of the Northwest Territories. He said, "Well, don't worry about it, we're going to have a clean growth job strategy, you still have tourism, you have fisheries,"...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The three northern Premiers worked together as part of the Northern Premiers Forum to develop this panterritorial vision. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As the Member knows, the Minister of Indigenous Affairs Canada appointed a Ministerial Special Representative to consult across northern Canada about the Arctic Policy Framework. Mary Simon was the MSR, and the three Northern Premiers felt that her report was too focused on conservation. I think it would be hard for us to find the words "sustainable development" any place in that report, and we felt that we needed to have some balance. The three Premiers of the three northern territories developed the PanTerritorial Vision for Sustainable Development that we submitted, and submitted it to the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my left, I have Mike Aumond, the secretary to Cabinet and the deputy minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs. To my far right, I have Terence Courtoreille, the director of Shared Services, and to my immediate right, Shaleen Woodward, the assistant deputy minister of Intergovernmental Affairs. Thank you, Mr. Chair.