Bob McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As spelled out in our Respect, Recognition and Responsibility Policy, the Government of the Northwest Territories recognizes that Section 35 of the Constitution Act of 1982 recognizes and affirms the Aboriginal and treaty rights of Aboriginal people. The Government of the Northwest Territories supports the recognition of rights of Indigenous peoples, honouring treaties and claims, and implementation of calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee.

I should also point out that the Government of the Northwest Territories has signed the Gwich'in and Sahtu Land...

In my view, the MSR reports jump-started the negotiations so that there was increased emphasis on some of these longstanding negotiations. Some of these have been going for over 20 years, and the MSR reports provided an arm's length view of both issues and challenges, and it allowed us to find a way forward to look at overlap issues and also to deal with more increased facilitation that will allow us to move forward in land claims negotiations.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Ministerial special representative reports were a very important step in advancing Indigenous rights in the Northwest Territories, and were a key part of our commitment to look at new creative options to advance negotiations on land claims. After the MSR reports were issues, the Government of Canada, Minister Bennett and myself met separately with the Chiefs of the Akaitcho Territory, the presidents of the Northwest Territories Metis nation, and the Dehcho Grand Chief and leaders to review the report and to discuss next steps. In the case of the Akaitcho and the NWT...

Yes, we are working very hard towards those objectives, and negotiations continue with the Northwest Territories Metis Nation and the Akaitcho on the recent proposals. We are very optimistic that the new offers that Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories put on the table with their built-in flexibility and the ability of the Indigenous governments to tailor their agreement to their priorities, I believe will give us the impetus to make some real progress. I am also happy to report that we recently received correspondence from the Dehcho First Nations government. Thank you, Mr...

There are two fundamental issues. The first fundament issue is whether the Government of the Northwest Territories effectively is a full partner in negotiations towards a Dehcho final agreement. The second fundamental issue is with regards to the Dehcho portion of resource management in the Northwest Territories. Will they be looking at a single integrated Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act, or will they be looking at a standalone system, a resource management that is coordinated with neighbouring regions to the Northwest Territories? Those are the two fundamental issues that we are...

As the Member indicated, many of us were at Opportunities North in Edmonton. I was very pleased to see excellent representation from the North at that forum. We all heard the federal parliamentary secretary, who had just returned from federal Caucus meetings to say to all of those people that were there that they would be making changes, although, at the national stage, the Prime Minister had indicated they were not prepared to make changes. However, I can say that the Government of Canada has committed to share the outcomes of their consultations with provinces and territories.

All Premiers...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to advise that our Government of the Northwest Territories Department of Finance has reviewed the federal consultation paper, and we continue to monitor the national discussion. I can clarify that the Premier of Nova Scotia has been very careful about his comments on these tax changes; the Government of BC has expressed concern about the level of consultation; the Governments of Manitoba and Newfoundland have been critical of the federal government.

We as a government, the Government of the Northwest Territories, support small businesses. We recognize small...

Once we determine the impact of the new federal tax, recognizing that a federal election is coming in 2019 so I expect there will be something in 2018, once we know what the effect of this new federal tax will be on small businesses, the Government of the Northwest Territories can look at what appropriate actions we can take.

As everybody knows, as a government, we already support small businesses through a number of economic development programs. We will continue to do so. If there are negative impacts, we will certainly prepare to look at them to see how we can continue to have small business...

I want to reiterate that what we are talking about are federal tax changes, and the federal government has been consulting with Canada's business community. The federal government is not prone to sharing a lot of information with us on these national initiatives, but certainly as consultation is under way by the Government of Canada, we have not communicated with the business community at this time.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to recognize all the students who are here today, in particular, Maurissa Antle, a constituent from Yellowknife South. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.