Mahsi, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I rise today in my capacity as chairman of the Constitutional Development Steering Committee to provide an update to this House on constitutional development for the new western territory. The acronym for the Constitutional Development Steering Committee is CDSC. I will be using that quite a bit.
CDSC members have agreed to postpone the first constitutional conference by two months, holding the conference in Yellowknife on January 19 to 22, 1995, instead of in late November. That will allow for better preparation for community information meetings and briefing of participants who will attend the conference. As many of you will have heard, the CDSC is honoured that the Right Honourable Joe Clark has agreed to chair the conference. Northern leaders who saw Mr. Clark in action during the Charlottetown accord talks, came to respect his ability to quickly grasp and fairly represent the divergent views, both aboriginal and non-aboriginal around the table.
He will bring great skill to the process of developing a consensus on a new form of government for a new western territory. The CDSC is now well on its way with planning and preparation for the conference. Approximately 150 leaders and public participants will discuss the themes and issues that have emerged from the public consultation to date and from further research.
They will compare viewpoints and see where there is common ground, where there are differences and where there is more work to be done. Their major task will be to make recommendations on principles and options for a new constitution and structure of government, and on how the remaining stages of the constitutional process should be completed.
I expect to announce the formula for selecting conference participants by the end of this month. A significant portion must be from the general public, so there is public ownership and involvement in the process. Madam Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to complete my statement.