Jane Groenewegen

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we’re having a theme day, as you can tell, on resource revenue sharing. We’ve been talking about this for a long time. On the plus side, we’ve got a lot of resources from which to derive revenue in the Northwest Territories. Not every jurisdiction has that, so let’s lay that out first and count our blessings. We’ve got the resources. We have enough resources to make revenue sharing a win-win for everyone: for Canada, for our territory, for aboriginal governments and their aspirations.

My worry, Mr. Speaker, is that we are in an extremely vulnerable situation...

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Is the committee agreed?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. speaker, this has been a good discussion here today and I am happy to see it’s coming onto the floor of this House, because in committee we talk about resource revenue sharing a fair amount. I won’t give you any of the details, of course, because that’s against the rules, but some of the quality of debate that sometimes goes on behind closed doors, I am glad to see it’s coming onto the floor of the House here because northerners need to hear where we stand on this.

The resource revenue sharing aspect of our aspirations here quite often overlaps and is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to suggest to the Premier that if this…I do know Mr. Gerein, with all due respect, and we don't want to take away from the good work that he's done here at all. I had honestly forgotten about him though; I haven't seen him for a long time. Mr. Speaker, we have appointed…On the energy file for example, we appointed a very high profile Conservative. I think Peter Lougheed did some work for our government on some previous file. It seems that when the federal government appoints somebody like Harvie Andre or David Petersen or somebody like...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a couple more questions for the Premier with regard to our theme day topic today -- resource revenue sharing -- and our efforts on behalf of that file. I would like to ask the Premier what other resources that he has at his disposal to affect some progress on this file. Last week when we talked about the distribution of workload in Cabinet, the Premier shared that he carries a very heavy workload and that his desk is seldom clear of items that need to be done. That being the case, combined with what he said today about this is his highest...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When the Premier says there are groups or areas or regions in the Northwest Territories that do not see this as a priority, my next question to the Premier would be then what can he do as the Premier to convene a dialogue or something that will create the awareness? I mean development is proceeding here. The incentive for Ottawa to deal with this is going to get less rather than more as the increased amount of revenue flowing to Ottawa proceeds. So can the Premier give us a commitment that he will convene a forum where a dialogue to create awareness amongst leaders...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Premier if, even though we are in this open public forum today, he could share with Members on this side of the House what would be a short list of the possible obstructions or obstacles to getting this deal done? What can we do collectively as northerners to advance this agenda? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Is the committee agreed?

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member is seeking unanimous consent to have the schedule to his motion deemed read and printed in Hansard in its entirety. Are there any nays? There are no nays so that is accomplished and we will distribute the motion here for the benefit of Members.

Schedule

11.1 Behchoko

Consisting of all that portion of the Northwest Territories bounded as follows: Commencing at the intersection of the 11605 meridian of longitude and the 6253 parallel of latitude; thence east along the 6253 parallel of latitude to its intersection with the 11555 meridian of longitude; thence...

Thank you very much, Mr. McLeod. General comments. Next I have Premier Handley.