This is my last comment, Mr. Chairman. I think the frustration that the Minister is sharing with us strengthens the point of the standing committee that it is difficult to deal with these issues one at a time, because, if you deal with the Department of Health issue, then the Department of Health bureaucracy, who are in the health culture, have very strict health perspective.
The Department of Finance, as we know, is probably the most interesting culture of them all. It is very difficult for them ever to let go with their theories of how life goes around. There is no certainty in any of this, as you know, in this serious fiscal situation the country finds itself in. The only way to unlock some of these individual problems is with a package. Again, we have emphasized that. Sometimes it is easier to say than to put into effect.
Basically, at the Finance Minister's level and the Prime Minister's level, they have to be convinced of a political as well as a financial package. The goals that we are trying to achieve, through the resolution of these problem areas, have to be goals that fit into their long-term objectives. The goal of economic self-sufficiency has that long-term payback to Canada, because as the Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources has said a number of times, any big project here, 70 per cent of the benefit goes to Ontario, Quebec, Alberta or British Columbia.
They have given a great deal of lip service to the whole concept of a new relationship with aboriginal people. Here, in the Northwest Territories, it seems to me that we are so far ahead of other jurisdictions that, by helping in these areas, helping provide that kind of economic fiscal and political stability, where Nunavut can happen, where we can work out some of the treaty issues and self-government issues, in a way, that will look good on the federal government. The problem with each Minister looking at it through the prism of their ministry, they miss the big picture. I think what we have to offer as the Northwest Territories is a big picture win for Canada. To me, to frame it up that way is when I am talking about a package deal. There will be all the trade-offs within the package deal, but it won't fly unless the political underpinnings of the package deal fit with the objectives of the federal government. I am pretty convinced that you may win things like the $5 million for infrastructure because they are easy ones. They will say, "All right. We will give you $5 million. We have already given the Northwest Territories their bit." I am convinced that one single problem approach will seldom lead
to success. We get nickel and dimed every time we turn around.
Somewhere down the line, either we have some economic fiscal political stability going into 1999 or things could start falling apart here, as the Finance Minister knows, politically and otherwise. If it falls apart politically, then it falls apart economically. If it falls apart economically, then it falls apart physically. Ultimately, the federal government has to pick up all the pieces. The relatively small amount of money to them that they are harassing our government about in the long term will be absolutely nothing compared to the problem we are going to inherit if this land experiment called the Northwest Territories doesn't work. That is the message that has to get across at the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister's level. At the departmental level now, they've got too many other people chasing after their piece of the departmental pie. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.