Michael Miltenberger

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a very fundamental political issue. The reality is that Northerners should be making those decisions, that if we had the authority over land, water, and resource development, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.

This is a federal initiative and it’s one where what has been portrayed is that there is a need to reform the processes in the Northwest Territories.

It’s our opinion that the system we have is fundamentally sound, that the gaps and delays that happen occur when decisions have been made in the North and go to Ottawa. We do not even have, at this late...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Member has made some very harsh, inflammatory comments, highly critical of the Premier and myself, and highly critical of the institution that he has served in for the last 16 years. He’s made some inaccurate depictions of what is on the table. Land claims have been settled and have been honoured, maybe not as well as could be, but we are talking about public lands, we are talking about resources that we’re currently not getting at a time, as I just demonstrated when I did the fiscal update, that we are under some significant fiscal constraints and we do not have...

Yes, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. We have the benefit of a stable Cabinet here. We’ve been dealing with the Conservative government now for the last five years. In many cases there’s been relationships developed among the various Ministers at the federal and territorial level. As we move forward, we do have to look at how do we nurture that relationship. How do we, as has already been stated, better work with our Member of Parliament? Another issue for this Legislature to consider is the role that we have in Ottawa, the presence that we have or should have in Ottawa, is that adequate? And if we are going to be...

This is a fair process. This is inclusive. It’s going to finally give us as Northerners the same rights now shared by about 99.5 percent of the Canadian population. We’re no longer going to be second class where we have to rely on a distant government to make key critical decisions about our life, our water, the land, and the resource development and how we want to move forward as a territory. To me, that is a fundamental improvement that is long overdue.

There’s money in the budget to continue to engage with those signatories that have not yet come to the table of the Aboriginal governments...

I’m not in a position to answer such a broad question where there are no specifics. I don’t know what the issue was. I don’t know where it was. I don’t know the background information. I can only assume that everything was done according to policy and procedure, but I’m not in a position to answer that type of question without some considerable more detail.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We should keep in mind the long list that the Member has laid out. We have active files on... We have many things on the go. All those, the pause button was hit, as it were, on the federal side as the election kicked into gear. The election is now over. As the Member said, we have now the good fortune of a majority government that will give us consistency over the next four years. We’re still waiting to find out the line-up in terms of the Cabinet. We have all these files ready to re-engage, we have a Federal Engagement Strategy. The Ministers and the Members in this...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As far as I understand, this is an agreement between the Northwest Territories and Canada, not two-thirds of the Northwest Territories or a quarter of the Northwest Territories or seven-eighths of the Northwest Territories, but it’s going to be for the benefit of all Northerners with the federal government. Thank you.

This particular document will have application, we believe, outside of the city of Yellowknife. It’s an issue in the city. We have our own interdepartmental working group, as well, that looks at concerns of homelessness outside of the city of Yellowknife. Thank you.

...steps away to enjoy the fruits of her labour and move onto the next phase of her life. I‘d like to thank her for her service.