Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Premier of the Northwest Territories. I want to ask the Premier some questions around the Norman Wells proven area. Specifically, I want to target on the resource revenue issue with the Government of Canada. I want to ask the Premier, in regard to this issue here, if the Government of Canada is holding firm on their stance that this area here is not a resource revenue sharing deal other than they have other interests, such as a commercial venture, and if there are any other type of discussions to see if they will move away from that definition.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have had those discussions on several occasions with the Government of Canada, first and foremost during the development of the agreement-in-principle. We couldn’t resolve it, so it was punted to the negotiations of the final agreement, so to speak. We made some progress by the fact that they have agreed that royalties will be paid on two-thirds of the Norman Wells interest. The Government of Canada remains steadfast, though, that their one-third share is ownership, it’s a commercial interest and that it is not a royalty. On that basis they do not see fit to pay royalties on it, because they are very clear that it is not a royalty.
I’ve done some of my own research and I found a very interesting document that in 1944, July 21st, Imperial Oil and the Government of Canada struck up a management/ownership type of deal with the Norman Wells oilfields and that they’ve been taking a cut in the share of that development fuel since then; even longer.
I want to ask if the Government of Canada is changing the rules as time goes on and because they’re so adamant not to release that definition under what is stated in the research I have that Norman Wells is looked at resource revenue rather than the ownership. Is the Minister looking to see if there are some other leverages that we can use, for example, if Canada is willing to sell their share of the Norman Wells oilfield?
As part of the negotiations process, we were able to limit the extent of the Norman Wells oilfield so that for a period of time they were looking at all of the Norman Wells area that would be covered. We were able to limit it just to the existing oilfield from Norman Wells. We also discussed, and the Prime Minister mentioned it in his response to a question, that from time to time the Government of Canada sells off assets of commercial interest and if it does happen, then there might be a possibility there for royalties.
I should point out that in the ‘80s, or when the Gwich’in and the Sahtu took the Government of Canada to court for unpaid royalties, there was an out-of-court settlement whereby both the Gwich’in and the Sahtu signed an agreement that the Norman Wells payments were not royalties, in order to receive compensation in an out-of-court settlement.
We’re looking at the bigger issue with the Norman Wells royalty regime. I want to ask the Premier, because of the interest now in the Norman Wells area, and not just the Norman Wells proven area, does the Premier see the Husky, the Conoco, the Shell type of structure that could possibly see the federal government looking elsewhere outside Norman Wells to say there’s not millions but there’s billions to be had. Is that something that we have positioned ourselves so that they keep their hands out of our pockets?
We believe we have been able to successfully negotiate that, but recognizing that that field is still being proven. It’s still in the exploration stage but the potential is unlimited. I think there’s tremendous potential in the Sahtu and we’ll see it come to pass.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I say, because, again, in my research, there were regulations, a management regime, and in the time when they were making the deal, Aboriginal people didn’t even have the right to vote in Canada. These were all being done on Aboriginal lands that we’re supposed to have a treaty. Now we’re taking over devolution, and part of taking over devolution is the 24 acts, regulations and legislation that we’re going to take over. One of them is the Canadian Petroleum Act, I think, and I want to make sure that we are set and the federal government is not going to interfere with our type of resource revenue sharing that we need in the Northwest Territories. I want to ask the Premier, will his department look at some of these things that ensure that the federal government does not poke its hands in areas that it shouldn’t be.
We definitely want to make sure that is the case. That’s why the legal and technical review of the final agreement that we’re doing right now is so important, because we want to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
