Date
October
25
2006
Members Present
ITEM 1: PRAYER
Assembly Members
Debates of October 25, 2006 (day 15)
Topics
Statements
Member’s Statement On Time Frame For Finalizing An Agreement On Resource Revenue Sharing
Sandy Lee
Range Lake
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this morning the headline in Globe and Mail reads, “Ottawa Awash in Surplus Cash” and I have to tell you I felt sick to my stomach when I started thinking about how much worse our friends in the NGO community must feel having to live through the latest cuts and having to tell their clients that their services will be less or none, even though the federal government is awash in cash.
Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, it started getting worse when I started thinking about the topic of discussion today, especially when I started imagining the time down the road when the Mackenzie gas pipeline is built and the much needed gas flows ever so silently downward to meet the unquenchable thirst of the U.S. market for energy. Not only that, we will see that the Mackenzie gas pipeline artery has made it possible for the entire NWT territory to be covered with the exploration and exploitation dots on the ground, like the coloured map I saw from one of the environmental conferences I attended. The degree of work that makes the MGP look like child’s play. What if I saw the headline in the business section of the Globe and Mail that read, “The Imperial and Consortium Makes $17 Billion in Profit”? Would I be able to, Mr. Speaker, cheer for them and say good on them because they should be able to get the return on their investment, just like the people of the NWT are benefiting from the extraction of these non-renewable resources that made it possible from a real, fair and just great deal with the federal government, with the efforts and leadership of the 15th Assembly? Or would I have to be overcome with the overwhelming desire to pull a blanket over my head and maybe hide in the closet wishing what should I have done or what could I have done to make that deal possible?
So I think it’s very appropriate, Mr. Speaker, that we talk about this issue and that time is running out and that it is time for all of us to act, because in the end I believe that will be the defining issue for us all to be judged on. This file has been going on for at least 20 years and I think the deadline is this year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause