Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Premier questions on the recent omnibus bill in Ottawa and the impacts it could have in the Northwest Territories, especially on devolution and the regulatory reforms, and other acts such as the Fisheries Act, that it would make some changes in the Northwest Territories. I want to ask the Premier if he had his Cabinet do an analysis of this bill that’s coming, that’s actually being debated in the House in Ottawa.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The omnibus bill is a very thick document and we have our analysts pouring through it to find out what the implications of the various sections of it are for the Northwest Territories. We expect to be able to report back to committee by this Friday.
Actually, that document is a little over 450 pages. It’s like they’re throwing everything at us and putting some very significant changes to that bill here.
I want to ask the Premier if he has some ideas or strategies as to if this bill here, parts of this bill will significantly change our relationship with the federal government and how we do business in the Northwest Territories. Is he willing to look at a strategy of how we can probably, or how we can deal with some of the issues that will come forward from this bill?
When we get the information we can sit down and see how we can approach this. I believe with a majority government at this late stage it would be very difficult to change the course of events because it’s in front of Parliament and they’ll be voting on it.
The Premier outlined some hard facts for us to consider. He also indicated that the power is in Ottawa here.
I want to ask the Premier, other than knowing these facts here, has he or his Cabinet given any thought to how we can deal with some of these significant changes that will possibly be coming to the Northwest Territories regarding this bill.
As I said, we’re analyzing the bill. We’ll have to see what the implications are. The Government of Canada has indicated that a lot of the changes are being done to make for a more efficient and effective regulatory process without sacrificing any of the environmental impacts or providing for additional Aboriginal participation. We will review the omnibus bill and then we will share our findings with committee. We’re very open to discussing an approach on how to deal with it.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The main bill was passed last June, so we had ample time to analyze it, and at this late stage I want to ask the Premier why was this time here given such at the end of the line as to how do we respond to some of the changes that are going to be coming down to the Northwest Territories.
The detail that has been provided on the omnibus bill, this is the first time we’ve seen it.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
