Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the last couple of weeks there has been a lot of talk about this draft agreement-in-principle which the government is currently considering.
Devolution and resource revenue sharing were important topics during the 2007 campaign. I heard many people from across the NWT. They were saying that it needs to be done and that it needs to be done now, that a deal must be struck.
So here we are; a potential deal is at hand. If this AIP is signed, we as a government and as a people will be able to take an important next step and begin the process of negotiating a final deal, a deal which would give residents of the NWT an ability to make decisions on managing public lands, water and resources, protecting the environment and managing the location and pace of development, establish our own NWT vision for land and resource management, socio-economic planning and environmental stewardship, putting into place new approaches to meet NWT’s resource development, infrastructure and investment requirements, and, Mr. Speaker, importantly, stopping the flow of hundreds of millions of dollars to Ottawa and providing the people of the Northwest Territories with net fiscal benefits from resource development.
Mr. Speaker, I respect the go-forward process that the Premier has referenced when asked questions on the AIP last week. Unfortunately, I believe that this is now impossible or at least seriously compromised. The details of the AIP have been released and are now public. They are on the CBC website. My concern is not that they be made public. Rather, my concern is that people don’t understand what this AIP means. This is clear if you actually take a look at the CBC blog which suggests that, although it is available for people to read, they either haven’t read it or, if they did, they don’t understand it. It is not an easy read, Mr. Speaker. I am happy the Premier actually made some clarifications today.
Mr. Speaker, this is an important time for the people of the Northwest Territories. The Premier must ensure that everyone understands this AIP. We all must ensure that our constituents understand the AIP so that we can hear them and we can all make informed decisions in the best interests of all of our people, aboriginal and non-aboriginal alike, and for the future of our Territories.
Later this afternoon I will be asking the Premier some questions on how he and his Cabinet intend to inform the people of the Northwest Territories on the details and realities of this AIP, how he intends to explain the content and ensure as much as possible that people understand how this AIP may benefit all of our people, how this deal improves upon the Yukon deal, how we will be able to use this AIP to negotiate a final deal with our aboriginal partners which gives us the ability to develop and implement vision for land and resource management, socio-economic planning and environmental stewardship.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Mr. Speaker, I believe that the NWT public share in the optimism that the prospect of managing our own resources and gaining more control over our economy brings. We have been here many times before and somehow we manage to squander it every time it comes up. We must move forward based on mutual interests. We must work together. To make things better, we must be informed about the issues. We must want a strong Territory for all of our residents regardless of the geographical location and we must act.
Mr. Speaker, I suggest that we know about the benefits of devolution and about the risks. We care about making things better and know that we need to control our resources and gain net fiscal benefits to do something about it. So let’s do it, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
