Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board Secretariat, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question was intended for the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, however in his absence I will direct my questions to the Premier.

Mr. Nitah. May I draw your attention to the rule that you do not refer to the absence of any Member in the House. Mr. Nitah, you have the floor.

I apologize for that, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Premier regarding the work of the Intergovernmental Forum. Mr. Speaker, $70 billion contributions to the GDP, 270,000 years of employment for Canadians does not seem to grasp the interest of Canadians south of the 60th parallel, Mr. Speaker.

In our discussions with the federal and aboriginal governments in the work of the Intergovernmental Forum, where we know now the financial aspects of the negotiations are not going to be included at the same table, where it is a great deal when we know the great challenges and the high cost of doing business in the Northwest Territories, especially when they are implementing the document, Towards a Better Tomorrow, Mr. Speaker.

Canadians south of 60 view us as a colony, so maybe, Mr. Speaker, it would be a good idea to recommend that we send our own King Joe down to Canada...

Mr. Nitah, may I have a question, please?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Manley wants to...(inaudible)...a Canadian monarchy, so maybe King Joe would work, but...

Mr. Nitah, may I have a question, please, or else I will rule you out of order -- a question, please.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask, do we have an alternative plan to the devolution negotiations, such as confederation, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you. The Premier is exercising his prerogative and passing it to Minister Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do not have an alternative approach, except trying to work with what we have. Throughout Canadian history, how Canada was formed, and as other provinces gain more responsibility, they take over control over their own resources, their lands and minerals and their waters. We as a Territory have been endeavouring to take over more control -- rightful control -- of our own lands and waters and minerals from the Canadian government. The only process that is there is through negotiations with the federal government. Through this Intergovernmental Forum, we agreed to get involved in this process. We are moving along on this process. As we get more and more involved, like the appointment of a negotiator, David Peterson, we realize the mandate is not a full mandate, so we have to work with the chiefs and the leaders to try to see if we could improve on this mandate. That is the only alternative we have. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the first day back in session, my colleague, Bill Braden, has said that you cannot use the same line of thinking to solve the problem that the thinking created. We have been down this road before, Mr. Speaker. Why can we not find an alternative method of negotiating...(inaudible)...so that we can get a better deal than what we are getting? Canada is not listening to us. We are 40,00 people and hey, that is one neighbourhood to them. Maybe we should start looking at an alternative way of dealing with Canada.

I would like to ask the Minister, will he direct his department and have discussions amongst his Cabinet colleagues that maybe we should start looking for alternative methods so that we could put pressure on government? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have already started to try to find ways to try to approach this issue. Like I indicated earlier on in my response to another Member here, we did have a dinner meeting with the Aboriginal Summit leaders. Most of the key leaders were there, and the problem or the concern that we have with this mandate and the way it is going to go is raised. We want to get the best deal for the people in the North. We need to get every dollar of every resource that we could. That is the intention on this process. We are in this process with the aboriginal government leaders. We have agreed that we need to work closer in cooperation with each other, and we need to find ways on how to move this issue forward. I think a lot of it has to do with trying to educate people in the federal government, people in the south. A lot of people in the south do not really know who we are and what we are aspiring to be. I think that is our intention, to try to find a way to do that.

The other way is that if we do not have a full mandate, we have to consider whether it is worth continuing in this process. I guess you asked for alternatives. We would like to pursue this Intergovernmental Forum, but we have a lot of work ahead of us on how to get our message across to the federal government and the different Ministers, and people in the south. That is what we intend to do. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wonder if Mr. Peterson will take a cut in half of his pay because he is only doing half the work. I would like to ask the Minister, what is the plan of this government and the Aboriginal Summit if the federal government does not change their position on their mandate? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Antoine.