Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, over the weekend, I got thinking about this government’s negotiating tactics and strategies with the federal government. When I saw the headline going across the television screen that read something like, NWT and Newfoundland support or like the vision of the new Harper government, Mr. Speaker, I am not sure if the national viewers would appreciate the intricacies of the NWT consensus government in the North. For certainty, I don’t believe there is, or has been, such a generalized consensus on the NWT position.

Mr. Speaker, I, for one, have stated that I am willing to give the new Harper government a chance to show its stuff when it comes to what it can do for our devolution and resource revenue sharing talks. But as to supporting or liking their vision, I am not certain about that, Mr. Speaker, because I am not sure what it is yet. If their vision is an unfettered decentralized Canada where the central government is nothing more than a tax collector and a distributor of that cash to provinces, I do not believe that is the vision of Canada that I can support.

Mr. Speaker, I don’t believe that is a good vision for a far-flung and small population jurisdiction like us, and for us a good, strong national equalization formula with fair share of resource revenue sharing should be our priority.

Mr. Speaker, I also got thinking about the pros and cons of wrapping ourselves in with the other provincial Premiers who speak to dealing with "fiscal imbalance" by taking on more powers and share of federal revenue. Mr. Speaker, because the issue of addressing fiscal imbalances and what it means has yet to be made clear, I don’t know what the Premiers of big provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, and not as big province of Newfoundland have in mind. But the last thing we need in this possibly unstable and short-lived minority government is to be mired in a power struggle or constitutional chaos with provinces while the NWT file gets pushed back to the back burner.

Mr. Speaker, we are not a province, but we are one with very unique circumstances to argue on all fronts. I believe we should keep our collective eye on that ball. Finally, Mr. Speaker, I believe the Premier has given enough indication of fuzzy and warm stuff to Harper. Now it is time for us to get the Prime Minister’s attention, and respect, and deep comprehension of the NWT file that is quite different and separate from the rhetoric of the provincial Premiers. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause