Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with the sitting of the Legislative Assembly coming to an end in the next several days, I would like to take this opportunity to speak about an issue that is of growing concern to me. Mr. Speaker, we are six short months away from division of the Northwest Territories. The work to ensure that there are functioning governments in both territories is a massive task. A great deal of work has been accomplished to date, and a great deal of work remains to be done. We have achieved the progress that has been made to date on this historic undertaking, Mr. Speaker, because we have been able to maintain a spirit of cooperation and mutual respect between the parties to this process. We have undertaken many complicated discussions and negotiations so far. They have occasionally been contentious and they have not been without differences of opinions. We have reached mutually satisfactory arrangements on a number of difficult issues because all of the players have demonstrated a fundamental and abiding respect for the objectives of division and the individual and different desires of the various groups at the table. It is, therefore, disappointing to me on a personal level to detect that the good will which has brought us this far is beginning to erode as the time for division draws near.
I am hearing comments in this House and outside of it which serve to entrench positions based on east or west. Equally disturbing are comments that question the rule or the motivations of others in the process. As well, I am hearing discussions in the public that suggest to me there is increasing polarization of opinion east and west reflective of narrow self interest rather than the concern for the greater good of the residents of the NWT. For example, preliminary estimates indicate, I am told, that the division of the NWT Power Corporation will result in a rate increase of between seven to ten percent in the Eastern Arctic and 5.7 percent in the west. This means, Mr. Speaker, that a family struggling to pay a power bill of $300 a month will see an increase of over $320 a year to their power bill in the east and $205 in the west.
Mr. Speaker, as division approaches it is only appropriate that the Members of this House and the parties to division and that residents from both Nunavut and the western Northwest Territories begin to focus on the future of their respective territories. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude the rare statements I make as an Ordinary Member.