Madam Speaker, the topic of Mr. Irwin's visit to this Legislative Assembly was discussed with the Prime Minister and his advisors. The Minister of Indian Affairs, upon reflection, saw fit not to come and make his presentation to the Legislative Assembly. I did indicate that, given the various thrusts that various groups were making and the fact that we had concluded a number of land claim settlements -- and in those settlements were embodied self-government agreements -- that we would have to try to address that so it would be financially possible to meet a lot of these commitments; and that it would have to be in the context of the role of this government and where it stands in meeting its obligations. It appears to me that the Prime Minister of Canada, himself, was not totally aware that there were difficulties in trying to get these discussions going and a timetable set.

Hopefully, with my continued nagging about the issue, we might be able to get somewhere in about a week from now in terms of setting up the stage and the process. The Prime Minister did indicate that at the wrap-up of these discussions he would want to hear, first-hand, what the problems were and what he had to do. He did make that commitment. He said he made the commitment to the Northwest Territories residents to continue to devolve and to try to make sure that we can operate on our own. There was a commitment there, and he was a bit concerned that it wasn't moving ahead as he felt was the direction that he had given. Thank you, Madam Speaker.