Debates of October 25, 2006 (day 15)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Premier, Joe Handley. You have heard the Members’ statements on this side of the House. I should say, Mr. Speaker, the Premier has heard the Members’ statements on this side of the House today and I think that it would be hard to argue that time is of the essence when it comes to getting a fair deal on resource revenue sharing with Ottawa. I would like to ask the Premier what he can tell us that would indicate to us that he agrees that this has to be the highest priority of this government at this time? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Return To Question 179-15(5): Resources Necessary To Achieve Progress On Resource Revenue Sharing

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let me say I appreciate the statements by all of the Members on this most important topic and I appreciate the concern you express and I express the same kind of concern. Mr. Speaker, I can tell you that I have spent more time on this issue with the federal government and with aboriginal leaders than any other issue. I feel it is the most important issue we, as a government, have to deal with. Now, I can’t give assurance we’ll achieve a deal. I don’t know. But, Mr. Speaker, I’m going to do everything in my power to get us there if I can. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Supplementary To Question 179-15(5): Resources Necessary To Achieve Progress On Resource Revenue Sharing

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Premier if, even though we are in this open public forum today, he could share with Members on this side of the House what would be a short list of the possible obstructions or obstacles to getting this deal done? What can we do collectively as northerners to advance this agenda? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Handley.

Further Return To Question 179-15(5): Resources Necessary To Achieve Progress On Resource Revenue Sharing

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let me say that, first of all, there are a lot of good, strong statements made today about needing to work together as northerners. That’s one. I can tell you that at my informational meeting with National Chief Bill Erasmus this week that that was the same discussion of the Dene Nation meeting in Fort Good Hope earlier. So working together is absolutely important. Aboriginal leaders have to work together and we have to work together with aboriginal leaders as northern leaders. So that’s number one.

Mr. Speaker, a second one is we have to agree on an agenda of how we’re going to move forward from where we are now, from the commitments that the Prime Minister has made, commitments Minister Prentice has made, the appeals we have made to them including letters this week to move this forward.

Basically I would say in answer to the question, partnerships working together as northerners, how do we get northern leaders working together with us? Second is how do we get the federal government’s attention? That goes from the Prime Minister to the Minister of DIAND would be my two top things that I believe we need to work on. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Supplementary To Question 179-15(5): Resources Necessary To Achieve Progress On Resource Revenue Sharing

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Premier for those answers. What is the next thing on the Premier’s agenda with respect to this file? What’s up and coming and what do we have in our ability, within our ability…I want to say arsenal of tactics of things we can do. We’ve heard everything from taking down the flag of Canada to putting up a bronze statue. No, that one we don’t take seriously.

---Laughter

But we’re desperate. Desperate times call for desperate measures. What is the next thing on the Premier’s agenda and what do we reasonably have in our control to advance this? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Handley.

Further Return To Question 179-15(5): Resources Necessary To Achieve Progress On Resource Revenue Sharing

Mr. Speaker, I think the first essential piece we need is for all northern leaders to work together on this and recognize this as being the most important topic we can deal with. Mr. Speaker, there is a meeting of the Aboriginal Summit leaders on November 9th and that is a critical meeting. Following that I intend to, I hope the leaders are able to come to agreement on what their agenda is, who the membership is, and so on. Then I intend to meet with them and I’ve made that known to the leaders already.

Second, Mr. Speaker, with aboriginal leaders it’s not all the aboriginal leaders who see devolution and resource revenue sharing as the top of the agenda. Some of them see settlement of their negotiation processes as being an essential ingredient that they have to resolve first. Mr. Speaker, we have to find a way of being able to work with all leaders, including those who don’t see this issue as being the top of their agenda. They’ve got other things that are more important to them and I respect their wishes.

Mr. Speaker, with regard to the federal government, it’s true, as someone mentioned, there’s only 43,000 of us. We only have one seat in the federal Parliament, so we have limited authority. The federal government has all the authority on permits and land use and so on, except for bits of Commissioner’s land. So we don’t have that legal lever. Mr. Speaker, what we do has to be persuasion, it has to be in some cases assuming some space that is unoccupied. By this I mean taking things like on the financial side. We have to look, and the Minister of Finance has to look, very carefully at what areas could we occupy on taxation, for example. I don’t know what those are, but we need to look at what things can we do that are going to cause the federal government to pay attention to our needs.

The other one, Mr. Speaker, is we face a huge bureaucracy in Ottawa and I have to say quite frankly that in my view a lot of the bureaucrats working in Ottawa feel threatened by devolution and resource revenue sharing. Somehow this is going to challenge their right to a job. In that way they continue this colonial legacy that’s been going on for so many years. We have to get through to that bureaucracy.

So, Mr. Speaker, as I speak I know the Secretary to Cabinet is writing to Mr. Sulzenko who is the lead for Mr. Prentice on the pipeline file. He is also writing to Harvie Andre who is the lead on devolution file; being very clear with them of what our agenda is. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Supplementary To Question 179-15(5): Resources Necessary To Achieve Progress On Resource Revenue Sharing

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When the Premier says there are groups or areas or regions in the Northwest Territories that do not see this as a priority, my next question to the Premier would be then what can he do as the Premier to convene a dialogue or something that will create the awareness? I mean development is proceeding here. The incentive for Ottawa to deal with this is going to get less rather than more as the increased amount of revenue flowing to Ottawa proceeds. So can the Premier give us a commitment that he will convene a forum where a dialogue to create awareness amongst leaders about the significance of this? Draw a picture, draw a map, explain what’s at stake. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Handley.

Further Return To Question 179-15(5): Advancing The Resource Revenue Sharing Agenda

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I couldn’t make it to the Dene Assembly meeting in Fort Good Hope last week, but I did meet with the national chief, as I mentioned. I want to build on the mood of partnership and working together that was started at that meeting. As I said, there is a meeting of the Aboriginal Summit leaders on the 9th. Following that I am going to invite, in fact before that happens I will invite all of the leaders to a meeting of the kind that Members referred to here. Just leaders. We don’t need a lot of staff, just ourselves as elected leaders. Mr. Speaker, I hope to do that in November, but it depends on the leaders’ agendas. Thank you.