Madam Speaker, yes, I will take that very seriously and so do the other northern Premiers. I will raise it again with them. I have to say that the Prime Minister has shown a lot of personal interest in the Northern Strategy and I know that he is also interested. Yes, I will follow up with this, Madam Speaker. Thank you.

Madam Speaker, either myself or, more appropriately, the Minister of Finance may want to raise those issues with the federal Finance Minister or with the Minister responsible for the CCRA. The point is an interesting one. It has implications that are good. It also has implications that are not something we would welcome necessarily. But, yes, I think we’re always open to doing that, whether it’s with GST or different ways of doing taxes or whatever it may be that is more beneficial to northerners. We recognize the high cost of living and doing business and the need to attract people to live...

Madam Speaker, through the devolution and resource revenue sharing negotiations, the transfer of any resource revenues is being negotiated to come to that government that is responsible for delivering the service. We deliver education, housing, justice and so on. We have to have the money transferred to us to be able to do that on behalf of the people of the Northwest Territories.

As I said, Madam Speaker, if an aboriginal government wants to negotiate self-government, they just have to apply to us. Tulita just recently applied to us saying we want to negotiate self-government. I don’t know...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I’m not sure what the Member is referring to when he’s talking about foot dragging. We have negotiations that are going on between the federal government, territorial government and the aboriginal governments on devolution and resource revenue sharing. There are some differences of positions between each of the three parties. We don’t refer to the aboriginal government or federal government as foot dragging. I think those are the characteristics of good negotiations that each party will put offers on the table, each party will be willing to compromise and think...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Yes, we will consider that. I have to say though, Madam Speaker, that we are getting so many organizations in the North that we have to look at how we do business, because I have met with community leaders who say they represent their interests, nobody else; I've met with regional leaders who say they represent theirs; I've met with the Dene Nation who say they represent everybody on a broad range of issues; I've had meetings with the Intergovernmental Forum who say they represent everyone; I've met with the Aboriginal Summit who say they represent everyone.

I think...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. As I say, we are always open to meetings. We probably meet with aboriginal leaders in our government more than any other government in Canada, certainly more than the federal government. It isn't anything new for us to meet with other Members.

As far as involvement in Cabinet decisions, I think that that is a different kind of forum and not one that we could easily accommodate here, because we are making decisions on behalf of the 19 of us and to begin bringing other people into it, I'm assuming vote, would be going a bit further than what I would contemplate....

Thank you, Madam Speaker. We have a fixed amount of money to work with, and all of us here, as 19 MLAs, every year review a budget that will decide how much money is going to housing and education and so on. So whether that meets the needs fully is a value judgment that people will make because they may not be 100 percent happy with the service, but we are doing the best we can as 19 MLAs to provide the best service possible within the money we have.

If an aboriginal government, I’ll say it again, if an aboriginal government wants money to deliver the service itself, then it should enter into...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. We have to distinguish between negotiations on devolution and negotiations on self-government. Devolution is the transfer of responsibility from the federal government to the territorial and aboriginal governments. We are ourselves, as a territorial government, and the aboriginal governments, at the table. We each have to negotiate our own positions and I think we have been very effective in doing that.

Self-government is another process altogether. Deline, Tulita, the Beaufort-Delta have entered into self-government negotiations and, as I said, I welcome any...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have two people that I would like to recognize. First, Szilvia Dubovay from Hungary who has been a constituent of mine for the last year and is hosted by the Pellerin family.

---Applause

I would also like to recognize my constituent Major Karen Hoeft. I have introduced her before and I can assure all the Members that not only does Major Hoeft listen to every statement that Ministers and Members make, but she also reads every bill as it is approved at first reading. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Again, we are always open to hearing the viewpoints from aboriginal leaders, from municipal leaders, from all of the leaders in the Territories, so I am always open to new ways of being able to consult. At the same time, we have to respect each other's differences, as well. I have often been to aboriginal leaders' meetings where I am told it is in camera and I am not welcome inside. Just wait outside until they finish the in camera meeting. It works both ways. We wouldn't want to ask the aboriginal governments to include us in their decision-making, and the same...