Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In another area of the sessional statement, this time I will refer to it. Earlier I was referring to the fiscal position. In the sessional statement made by the Premier, he urges us to hold the course in what we have worked on in our agenda. Mr. Chairman, I think again that it would be prudent of us to reflect on our agenda that was laid out two years ago and to see how much of that is still relevant today.
In light of the changes that are going to occur and potential changes that are more immediate than those that are further out, we are going to be impacted by how the federal government deals with the unfortunate incidents, as stated in the Premier's comments, in a sessional statement given again on October 23, 2001. He states: "The events of September 11th have and will continue to have a profound effect on the way we live, even in our remote northern communities."
Mr. Chairman, there is then a recognition that as a government, we should indeed look at our position and what we have set up, knowing that there is the potential for some negative reaction in the sense of economies and how we as the Northwest Territories will once again be impacted.
I agree there are a number of initiatives out there that we must continue on to help clarify and provide for the ongoing work that is needed. For example, the self-government tables that are out there. We need to continue to work on those initiatives because those are ones that would help us clarify politically the climate and how we as governments would operate. Then it would help us as well in the area of revenue sharing.
Mr. Chairman, I think it is time we take the opportunity to go back and review what we termed as the Towards a Better Tomorrow document and look at what needs to be done. In fact, are we heading towards a better tomorrow or is the potential we are living a better today, but tomorrow we will be suffering? That is something that we need to address in our plans and reaffirm, as 19 Members, how we see this situation proceeding.
Even in the government's own estimates, fiscal forecasting beyond this Assembly and early into the next, if we do not receive new sources of revenue, we indeed will be in a very tight situation.
I have come through the 13th Assembly. I have no way of wanting to accept that and accept that we as an Assembly would put that upon a future government. I think it is an issue that we must deal with and come out with again, either reconfirming the positions that were made or making some changes to the plans that were put out there. I believe it is only prudent of us to do that.
Those who would want to continue to go at the present rate we are without ensuring that, in fact, there is some sort of a check stop at some point to ensure that we are not going to go beyond what we are capable of coming out as a government. I think that is something we need to do. At the end of the day, whether we are here or not, the system will move along, dollars will flow, and it is just a matter of how much and where to.
I think it is something that is incumbent upon us again to reflect on and probably put more detail to. I have heard Members in this House talk about Towards A Better Tomorrow and how some initiatives can be thrown into that and justified quite easily because of the rather broad and open wording that is used and little to no detail. I think it is time we started to refine those and again assess where we are and what we will leave for the people of the Territories when we are done our term.
With that, Mr. Chairman, I will conclude my comments.