Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the whole area of our resources in the Northwest Territories is important to all of us as northerners. We consider the resources as ours. However, we do not have control over it. The federal government has control over our natural resources. They get the taxes and the royalties of our natural resources. They get it from the diamonds. They are going to get it from the gas and the oil out of Norman Wells and all the mining interests. This is the dilemma that we have been in for a long time.
This is one of the last areas of devolution that still exists here in the Northwest Territories which this government has been trying to do some work towards. Previous governments have tried it and have failed. We are attempting to get some understanding among all Northerners to set the groundwork for some possible arrangements. This is what we have been working at since getting in as Premier in December. In January, we undertook an extensive travelling schedule throughout the whole North, appearing before different organizations and appearing before different communities and explaining the agenda for a new North which the key component of it is gaining control. It is a sharing control of our own resource, and we have to do it in conjunction with the aboriginal governments.
We have to work together, all the organizations, the Government of the Northwest Territories, the aboriginal governments. We have to work together and build consensus before we move forward. The key to this is that the federal government, through Indian and Northern Affairs, controls this whole initiative right now, and we have to convince them somehow. Over the years, we have been fracturalized. The previous attempts to reach a Northern Accord have failed because they are different regions with their own agendas and a sense of their own control. The last time any federal minister said anything about it was Ron Irwin, who was the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs. He said if you could get 100 percent consensus amongst all the interested parties, then he would consider working toward some resolution. That is a tall order, Mr. Speaker. Since this government took over, we have been trying to do that. We have been meeting with groups. We are trying to set the atmosphere and the environment to try to move towards this. We are putting everything on the table. We are saying what kind of resources we have and the pressures on them. The only possibilities to gain more resources to provide programs and services in the North are from our own resources, and we have to realize that.
This is where the energy has been put in by this government. The Minister of Finance and the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development have spent a lot of time appearing before citizens in the North trying to explain this initiative. We have not given up on the people of the Northwest Territories. We are trying the best we can in the remaining life of this government. We made a decision yesterday that the election is going to be December 6. We back that up, and we have until the middle of October, about three months, to do some work. The only thing we could do in the life of this government is try to set the stage, get all the information out there. Hopefully, there is some good dialogue and discussion to develop here in the North by all citizens to realize this is the only avenue that we have to achieve more resources for people in the North so that, hopefully, in the future we will make life better for everybody in the North. Thank you.
