Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today, I spoke, of course, very highly to the Devolution Agreement, and I certainly underscored my support for the Devolution Agreement that has been finalized today. As we work towards implementation, the only outstanding issue is a couple small ones, which are, of course, public appreciation for the finer details of the Devolution Agreement.
My question would be to the Premier and is: When will we have some type of public dialogue that boils down the finer details of what the Devolution Agreement actually means, and what type of process do we have to engage our citizens in understanding these types of details?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are just in the process of developing our draft communications strategy, and I think we are sharing it with committee. If it hasn’t reached committee yet, it will be there very soon, in the next day or so.
That’s certainly good news that it sounds like something’s coming. We have to be fair. I mean, it doesn’t just show up. Some work has to be done.
In the Premier’s very well-crafted comments when he was speaking here before the Prime Minister, he had made mention of a vote. I’d like to know, or ask the Premier, what type of vote is anticipated on this final Devolution Agreement and when can we expect to see this.
If the Members wish, we would put it to a vote in the Legislative Assembly, and it would be a yes or no vote.
I think I’m a little surprised, more so by the words “if we would like to.” How do we get it clear on the record here? Because the way he said it today made it sound like it was coming to the Assembly and it was a foregone conclusion that we would have a public discussion on this and a final vote, of course.
That said, what type of direction does the Premier need to ensure that we actually have a final vote on this particular issue before this Assembly?
We expect that it will take about 40 to 50 days to have our public engagement and communications done on devolution, and I expect that we can vote on it in the May-June session.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just quickly, I know some Members may prefer something larger. Myself, I prefer a vote in this Assembly. I think the people elect us for a particular reason: to lead on these particular issues. As proof, as you noticed today, we had five out of the seven Aboriginal groups signing on, so it shows broader support for this initiative, by all means. I prefer a public vote in this Assembly, and maybe the Premier could speak to how he feels that that will get the message on and carry forward these initiatives. Because I think citizens want to know are their leaders leading, and how we’re leading on this very important file and make sure the execution of it is properly done.
I agree with the Member.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
