Debates of March 16, 2004 (day 1)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I encouraged the Premier to draft a bill of intent that would give rise to the creation of the Northwest Territories to a province. I am now going to ask the Premier if he will produce such a bill of intent within this 15th Legislative Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Premier, Mr. Handley

Return To Question 1-15(3): Bill Of Intent To Seek Provincial Status

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on January 20th, the Aboriginal Summit and the GNWT signed a framework agreement on the process for negotiating devolution of resource revenue sharing. I hope the federal government will sign it this week and, if that is the case, then that document will outline the process and mandate and may some day result in legislation. But we want to move this ahead step by step. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Supplementary, Mr. Allen.

Supplementary To Question 1-15(3): Bill Of Intent To Seek Provincial Status

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No disrespect to the Premier’s answer, however, I still feel that the people of the Northwest Territories, especially in my riding of Inuvik Twin Lakes, lost confidence in that document and any subsequent documents thereafter. So I am going to again ask the Premier if he is willing to bring forth this process to discuss further with the western and northern Premiers in the conference in Inuvik in July. So I would ask him if he would begin this work, the political work to start generating support for this process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Premier.

Further Return To Question 1-15(3): Bill Of Intent To Seek Provincial Status

Mr. Speaker, this has certainly been an issue of interest to my colleagues across the country. All of the Premiers have asked me about devolution and where we are at. Mr. Speaker, this is a process that is trilateral, it involves aboriginal governments, our government and the federal government. The framework agreement I referred to is a first step. Second, we hope to have an agreement-in-principle and we commit to working toward that by this summer, and a final agreement by 2005 with implementation in 2006. That is a pretty ambitious schedule. I hope constituents across the North don’t lose confidence in the process, but I really believe we have to take it step by step and I fully intend to do everything we can to bring this to a conclusion during the life of this government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Supplementary, Mr. Allen.

Supplementary To Question 1-15(3): Bill Of Intent To Seek Provincial Status

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think we all recognize the difficulty in trying to persuade the federal government to acknowledge that we are an emerging territory. So I am going to ask the Premier again, failing his undertaking on a trilateral level, if he would call upon the chief electoral office to conduct a referendum on the question of the creation of the Northwest Territories as a province. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Premier.

Further Return To Question 1-15(3): Bill Of Intent To Seek Provincial Status

Mr. Speaker, that is something that will most likely get discussed at some point by our partners, the aboriginal governments, and it may be something that we want to do at some point here, but I would certainly have to talk to the partner governments, the aboriginal governments in particular, before we would do it. I wouldn’t want to try and do it unilaterally or people will feel we are stepping out too far ahead. Thank you.

Your final supplementary, Mr. Allen.

Supplementary To Question 1-15(3): Bill Of Intent To Seek Provincial Status

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t see the relevancy in the discussion with a third party in terms of the constitutional relationship between the federal and territorial governments. I am going to ask the Premier again if he is willing to bring a bill of intent to the Prime Minister’s office through the normal process. Thank you.

Mr. Premier.

Further Return To Question 1-15(3): Bill Of Intent To Seek Provincial Status

Mr. Speaker, I’ve certainly made this issue known to the Prime Minister; that this is an issue that is at the top of the agenda for our government as well as for aboriginal governments. I will continue to do that. I think we also have to keep in mind that all of these processes take time, they are not things that you can do overnight. In fact, the Member made reference to Alberta and Saskatchewan. They got provincehood in 1905 and they didn’t get control over the resources and land until 1930 or shortly after that. So it is a long process. We have been at it a long time, but I believe that we can make a lot of progress by working together rather than trying to move it too fast and having the other partners feel that we are moving ahead of them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a written question for the Premier of the Northwest Territories.

Would the Premier provide and in-depth political analysis of those sections of the Constitution Act, 1982, which give constitutionality to other political institutions in the Northwest Territories, which you must consult with prior to the introduction of a bill of intent to achieve provincehood?

Will he provide analysis of the applicability of relevant past provisions of the BNA/Constitution acts?

Would the continuity of laws not consistent with those of the act be impacted?

Would changes to the judicial system be required? How would it affect the other territories? Would it require their participation?

Would revenue from federal government and provincial taxation be impacted?

Would the continuity of federal laws governing resources, such as the Territorial Lands Act, be impacted in the interim until provincial laws are established under Section 92? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.