Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, would like to speak about something different than what I had planned to speak about. I, too, listened with interest as the phone-in show proceeded on CBC Radio this morning. As a matter of fact, I took the opportunity to call in and offer my opinion as well. I believe that my opinion on the Mackenzie Valley pipeline has been very consistent and I have been saying the same things as many Members of this House have been saying. We had a theme day devoted to this topic and each of us spoke very passionately about some of the issues around the Mackenzie Valley pipeline.

The question posed was are we ready for a Mackenzie Valley pipeline. My answer to that question was I wish we were, but the truth of the matter is, Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of outstanding issues. They were outstanding in 1977 when Thomas Berger concluded his findings after his extensive consultation with the communities. The areas that he identified, many of which today, unfortunately, are still outstanding. So there’s a lot of excitement about the numbers and about the benefits and some of the things that we could realize in the North as a result of a pipeline.

When we talk about thousands of jobs or millions of dollars and trillions of cubic feet of product, it all sounds really exciting, but the bottom line of it is that there’s nothing in it for the Northwest Territories and for our people on a sustainable basis for generations to come. Then, no, it’s not worth it. Mr. Speaker, it is our job, I realize, as a government, to get the attention of the people who are involved in this, and I believe that we have been trying to do that and we will continue to try to do that. But, as of today, the issue of royalty sharing with aboriginal public governments has not been addressed. The issue of the environment and protected areas has not been addressed. The issue of the settling of land claims along the pipeline route has not been addressed.

It would do well, I think, for industry and business, who are poised to benefit from this, to join forces with northerners to help us ensure that we do get ready in time to benefit from this. It would do well for them to be our partners in this.

Mr. Speaker, just in closing I’d like to say that the constituents and the businesses of my riding are poised to benefit from this, but we have a very big job ahead of us as a government to ensure that the benefits are there for northerners, because I’ll say again that the non-renewable resources of the lands of the NWT are not there for the taking at any cost and I’ll have questions for the Premier on this. Thank you.

---Applause