Mahsi, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair and fellow colleagues, ladies and gentlemen in the gallery and people of the Northwest Territories. First of all, I would like to congratulate you on your election as Speaker of the House for the 14th Legislative Assembly. Congratulations. I know the Members of this House have chosen the right person for the job.
I would also like to congratulate the honourable Member for Sahtu on his election as the Premier. Having worked with Mr. Kakfwi for many years, I know he is the right person to lead the Northwest Territories as we enter into the 21st century. Finally, I would like to thank the honourable Member from Deh Cho, the honourable Michael McLeod, for nominating me today. Mahsi.
On a personal note, Mr. Chair, I would like to give special thanks today to my wife Celine and my children, Denezeh, Melaw, Sachey and Tumbah. Often, Mr. Chair, political life can take a tremendous toll on your family. I have been blessed to have the understanding and support of my family during my political career. I am exceedingly grateful for them today.
I would like to speak in my language for awhile, Mr. Chair.
(Translation starts): We have elected Stephen Kakfwi to be our Premier. Right now we are going to be selecting people to sit on Cabinet. I have put my name forward for Cabinet.
I have been a part of the Legislative Assembly for the past four years. The past year and a half I have also been Premier. I am very familiar with a lot of things and a lot of issues that pertain to the Government of the Northwest Territories.
If I am elected to sit on Cabinet, I would try my best to do what I can for the people of the Northwest Territories and for the people in my constituency.
We are here on behalf of all of the people who have voted for us, so I would like to raise their concerns and speak on their behalf. This is the reason I put my name forward today. I would like to thank people and my constituents that have voted me back in as their MLA. I would like to thank them again. If I am elected to be a Minister, I would promise that I would continue to work for the betterment of the people. Thank you. (Translation ends)
I have had a number of roles during my political career. I began my political career as a chief of the (inaudible) the First Nations. I have had the pleasure of serving as the MLA for Nahendeh for the past two terms and am now entering my third.
As MLA, I have had the pleasure of serving as the Standing Committee of Finance chairman, and as co-chair of the Constitutional Working Group, as the Minister of Transportation, Aboriginal Affairs, and Public Works and Services. Finally, Mr. Chair, I have had the honour of serving for the past 13 months as the Premier of the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Chair, although we only have a short time available for the remarks today, I want to provide Members with a summary of my views with respect to the future of the Northwest Territories. These views are the ones I will bring to the Cabinet table, should the Members place me there with their trust.
Mr. Chair, many of the principles and philosophies that I hold as important can be found in the document Agenda for the New North. Mr. Chair, in my view, there are five key elements that need to be effectively dealt with over the next four years. The first of these elements is to deal effectively with land claims and aboriginal rights negotiations throughout the North. The northern half of the Northwest Territories is covered by settled land claims. Over time the entire Territory will be composed of land claim settlements.
We must recognize the combined outcome of aboriginal rights negotiations and constitutional development, which results in a complete change to the current system of governance in the Northwest Territories. For this reason, we must work together in partnership with aboriginal governments to create a system of government in the Northwest Territories that is fair, representative and responsive to the needs and concerns of all residents.
The second one, Mr. Chair, we have had a great deal of discussion about this issue lately, and we must ensure that all the northern resources are controlled by us, the northern people.
As we all know, the management and control of resources rests with the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. This means that key decisions that affect our people, our businesses, our economy, continue to be made by federal civil servants in Ottawa and in Hull. We do, however, have responsibility for health care, education, housing, and other expensive programs. These deal with very complex issues, and we have demonstrated that we are more than able to handle these programs, yet we have made little progress with Ottawa in terms of controlling our natural resources.
In the past year, I have spent a great deal of time discussing issues with various groups across the Northwest Territories. It seems that everyone that I speak with across the Northwest Territories agrees that control of northern resources should be in the hands of northern people. The difficulty seems to be agreeing on how these resources should be controlled north of 60. Agreement on this issue can only be accomplished if we sit together as northern governments to discuss how this can best be accomplished. It is for this reason that I strongly support the establishment of the intergovernmental forum that would bring together the federal, territorial, and aboriginal governments to discuss this issue and others.
Mr. Chair, Northerners must live with the issues raised by development, both environmental and social. We bear a large portion of the cost required to respond to development. Yet by far the largest share of benefits from development goes to the federal government. It is for this reason that it is critical we negotiate a new fiscal arrangement with Ottawa that ensures more benefits of northern development are accrued to northern governments.
We need to find ways to stimulate sustainable economic development in the Northwest Territories. A strong economy provides jobs, opportunities and is good for business. We must build partnerships between all levels of government, both public and aboriginal, industry and the business communities to ensure that coordinated action is required to improve the northern economy.
This process has already begun by the economic strategy panel, and must continue. We must remind the federal government that we have an obligation to fund regional economic development initiatives similar to federal programs in other regions of this country.
Mr. Chair, next, and certainly not last in my comments, is the need to deal in a comprehensive manner with the social issues facing our Territories. We hear much of it today, and through the discussions in the last while. Only when we create an environment of healthy communities can our residents fully realize the opportunities that exist, and we must act on them to guarantee the communities remain strong.
There are many other issues, Mr. Chair, that if the Members see fit to select me to serve on the Cabinet, I would continue to do the best I can. I have done that over the years in the office that I hold in Cabinet, and as one year as the Premier. I have proven that I can do the work. I am not afraid of the hard and time-consuming work this position offers. I am willing to do that work. So I pledge to serve in the spirit of teamwork, fairness, and to serve the best interests of the people of the North.
I have always believed in working together. Mr. Chair, the Northwest Territories faces many challenges; however, I really believe that for every challenge there are larger opportunities if we work together. We will never fully realize our vast potential until we find a way to work together to meet our challenges. So with that, I would like to thank the Members for their consideration here as we go through the selection. Mahsi, Mr. Chair.
-- Applause