Mr. Speaker, I want to continue on from my statement earlier today when I was talking about how easy it is to come into this Assembly and ask questions of the government. I do think it is easier to ask questions than answer questions. I know I am critical; I know I question the government. But I also try, in questioning the government, to provide some suggestions and recommendations and to try to make things work here. You can’t just be critical. You have to try to work together.
One of the issues that’s really eating at me lately is this Mackenzie Gas Project. I want to get a better understanding of why the Government of the Northwest Territories does not have an equity position in this proposed project. I could ask the Minister of Finance, perhaps, for an answer to that question.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.
Mr. Speaker, the simple answer that I know of is that we just don’t have that kind of money, nor are we in a position to borrow that kind of money when you look at all the other competing interests we have, the reduction exercises we’re going through, the revenue option exercises we’re going through. That would be the main issue.
I do want to say that I’ve heard the Member’s concerns. Clearly, we’re committed to moving on the idea and concept of a heritage fund. We intend to come forward with information that would allow us to have that debate and discussion and hopefully get that structured and set up as a legal instrument that is going to be there for the future.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to thank the Minister. I know that he does have a genuine interest, like a number of my colleagues in this House, in finally seeing a heritage trust fund set up in the Northwest Territories. I know that he will work to try to get that done.
Again, I just want to get a better understanding of why an equity position in the pipeline isn’t attached to the negotiations that are currently ongoing with the federal government for resource revenue sharing and devolution. Why isn’t that part of it? Why isn’t the heritage trust fund a part of those negotiations today?
Initially we’re looking at the kind of arrangement that could be made on resource royalty sharing. There’s the infrastructure option that was put forward by the Premier on behalf of the Premier and Cabinet. The issue of an equity position was not really strongly considered, mainly because there were other things at play, and our own fiscal situation doesn’t give us a lot of free capital to get things done.
Mr. Speaker, that gets me to my next question. This billion dollar deal that’s on the table with the federal government in relation to the negotiations for resource revenue sharing and devolution was formulated by Cabinet. Now, I’m saying today, and I’ve said it before in this House, that there are other competing priorities, such as an equity position in the pipeline, such as the heritage trust fund. Members in this House just haven’t had the ability, like Cabinet, to put those types of things on the table or to discuss what the most important thing is for us going forward to the federal government.
Again, I just want to ask the Minister of Finance when we can sit down with Cabinet and have this discussion and finally figure out what exactly it is we’re after with the federal government.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Hon. Premier, Mr. Roland.
The Member is speaking about the devolution and resource revenue sharing file, and that’s being handled through the Department of Executive and myself, working with Cabinet. I’ve gone forward and presented a proposal that has been put on the table. We know we’re working from a framework that was already in the system for quite a number of years. I’ve also spoken to the Member and informed him that there are a number of initiatives, if we get a proposal put forward, that we can build on as Members of the Legislative Assembly. That’s the process we’re involved with.
As for a commitment from Cabinet, again, as Premier of the Northwest Territories I’ll work with Members of the Legislative Assembly and bring the appropriate Ministers to the table when it’s needed.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Mr. Speaker, I guess a final question for the Premier. It’s nice that we can have this back and forth in public. Like I said, there are other things that I believe, as a Member of this House, should be on the table with the federal government. They are not today. How does the Premier address those concerns that individual Members might have, and how do we get those concerns on the table with the federal government?
Mr. Speaker, there are a number of ways of doing that. Internally, the Member is quite familiar with the process of business plans and how we get initiatives on the table and move forward. There are many competing interests, and we don’t have the resources to deal with all of them.
On the federal side, depending on the initiative, if it’s an initiative with ITI or ENR on different funds or policies that the federal government may be working on, we work with committees; for example, the devolution and resource revenue file. Members are aware that we already had a starting point when this government took over that file. We’re working with the federal government on that. The recent proposal has been put forward in trying to come up with a different approach. As I said to Members, we would also look at a number of these other initiatives. But I believe those decisions can be made in the North; we can do that here. We don’t necessarily need the federal government to make those decisions for us.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
