Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good afternoon. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to advise the Members of the House of my support of the Draft Transition Action Plan tabled in this House last Wednesday by the Minister responsible for Division. Mr. Speaker, I, for one, am glad to see the kind of detailed planning finally being done with less than 18 months until division. It is time for action. This plan was prepared as advice to the Interim Commissioner, which I hope he will give some thoughtful consideration to. This was also developed as an action plan for steps that the Government of the Northwest Territories can take to help make Nunavut a reality. Finally, this plan also outlines the funding that will be needed to put basic government structure in place in Nunavut.
Mr. Speaker, like many of my colleagues, I wish that we could be further down the road to implementation and that this plan can continue to follow the actions that are necessary to have a fully functioning Nunavut government in place by April 1, 1999. But if we at least can get the basics in place, then the new MLAs of the Nunavut government will have be the tools and the framework they need to move forward to put the final model in the way that the Inuit people want their government to be.
The people of Nunavut have very high expectations of the benefits that the new government will bring, and I know that the people of Resolute, Arctic Bay and Grise Fiord who I represent are anxious to see the government offices to be built in the communities outside of the capital of Iqaluit. I am very pleased to see, Mr. Speaker, that this plan recognizes that decentralization must take place if the vision for the Nunavut government outlined in Footprints 2 is to become a reality. I want to wish success to all the parties as they begin discussions on the plan and the funding that is needed to turn this into action. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.