Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I spoke about a vision for the North and, in particular, a strategy for the North and the importance of that, and it seems that since the change in federal government a northern strategy or a vision isn't as apparent. I'd like to ask the Premier what our territorial government has done or is doing to promote a northern vision that's inclusive of the three territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. The Honourable Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That was certainly a concern of ours with the new government, the fact that there was little emphasis on a northern strategy. In a lot of cases we felt we were being treated as a stakeholder rather than as a government in our right. So the three northern territories got together, the three Premiers. We wrote a letter to the Prime Minister inviting him to meet with the three northern Premiers and to indicate that we were the true representatives of Canada's territories and that we wanted to develop a vision for the North. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you to the Premier for his reply. I guess the next natural question would be then: what kind of response have we received from Ottawa or the Prime Minister with regard to meeting on this initiative and developing this vision and strategy?
We were very pleased with the Prime Minister's positive response. He was very eager to meet with us and we are looking to meet in the early part of 2017. Each of our three Premiers who have been to Ottawa quite a few times have reinforced that message. When the Prime Minister was here a couple of weeks ago, he reconfirmed his availability, and we're very much looking forward to working with him in this area.
That's all positive news, so thank you to the Premier for that. I guess if we are going to go forward as a territory and be a part of this pan-territorial discussion, can the Premier advise what initiatives will be taken or what steps we will be taking to make sure that the five regions of our territory are inclusive of our NWT vision, that the piece of what we're going to put into the call it pan-territorial vision that we'll be bringing to Ottawa?
Can the Premier maybe explain a little bit about what we're doing to make sure that the five regions are inclusive in that discussion or in that vision?
We are still developing our framework of engagement with the federal government, and certainly we will reach out to our Aboriginal partners and also to the Members of this Assembly.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
