Mr. Chairman. It is a fact that the federal government, when the previous liberal government first took office, the Minister at the time, Ron Irwin, tasked an individual named Mr. Wright to advise him on the issue of devolution for the Yukon and devolution for the Northwest Territories, on how he may be advised to proceed in regard to the two jurisdictions. It was Mr. Wright's view at that time that, in short, was in the Yukon. It is politically improbable and not doable in the Northwest Territories. The federal government consequently focused its attention on beginning talks with the Yukon Government which concluded last month with an agreement.
In the Northwest Territories since Mr. Irwin was first elected and even previous to that, different Ministers of this government have tried to reach an agreement with the various aboriginal organizations and leaders. In particular, the Mackenzie Valley, it proved impossible, to reach consensus. At one point, I think, with Mr. Todd, the majority of the aboriginal groups were on the side of the government because it was literally four months before an election, and it was felt politically, not the right thing to do. They decided not to request the federal government to proceed on a transfer.
As a Minister, I have been recently asked by the Premier to accept this file and advise Cabinet on, how probable it is to proceed with this file. It is my view, with division a year and a half away, it is more than highly improbable we can advance this case with the federal government. It is going to take a lot of work, and demand a lot of our attention that is politically very difficult to project. I have difficulty in seeing any consensus of most of the aboriginal communities, let alone the aboriginal groups, particularly in the southern part of the territory in the Deh Cho, in the South Slave and in this area as well. I do not know that even if we could give everybody the benefit of the doubt, that even in this case we could reach a consensus fairly quickly on the fundamental points regarding division. The time lines are such, that it would not be possible to proceed with the federal government.
Having said that, we will still be working to try to advance the file. We need to give the aboriginal groups the benefit of the doubt and see how prepared they are to move this file along and not just see it as a bargaining chip with us. We should look at ways we could perhaps deal with the different elements regarding devolution on an interim basis, for instance, revenue sharing. Is it possible to advance the issue of revenue sharing with the federal government and with the support of the aboriginal groups? If not, without compromising or creating implications for the aboriginal case. Later on, if we proceeded with that, what are the implications of moving within the different elements within the overall devolution file at this time. We will have some discussions with aboriginal groups on this, and it will take some work. I know one of the previous Ministers spent just over three quarters of a million dollars on this very process, this very question, only to find as Mr. Wright had done, on a lone crusade, that politically it is difficult, if not improbable to proceed with this file in an expeditious way. Thank you.