Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will start of by saying that I do support the motion and I do support the work of my colleagues on this side of the House as well as the government in asking the questions and putting this issue to the forefront today. I think it is important that it gets the air time it gets. I also wanted to mention that, now more than ever, I think it's important that as Regular Members we support the Premier and we support his government in his going to Ottawa and trying to get us a deal. I know we have been at this a long time and it's about time that we did get a fair deal.

I don't know if the motion goes far enough. I would like to see a little bit more teeth in the motion, Mr. Speaker, but it does set the stage for the Premier's trip to Ottawa and give the government in Ottawa some indication of our displeasure at how we have been treated and how we have been taken advantage of for the past number of years. As well, I wanted to, while I've got the floor, make mention of the fact that most Members are familiar with my feelings toward the government in Ottawa and how I believe, that being that they were in a majority situation for the past number of years, that having changed in May of this year to a minority situation, I think now more than ever, it would be advantageous for our government to make friends with both the New Democratic Party of Canada and the Conservative Party to try to work some things out and get our agenda to be part of their agenda in Ottawa. I think that could pay huge dividends for us here in the Northwest Territories.

My Member's statement today talked about the need to set up a permanent trust fund and this is something that I, you know again, feel very strongly about and I don't know how Ottawa could answer to the Government of the Northwest Territories and say no to that. I think that that's just fundamental. I mean, they are our resources, we should get some resource royalties from those resources and it should be set aside until we settle our differences and they settle their differences with us. I don't understand how they could say no to that.

Again, I do support the motion that is in front of us and it's a very important issue and I am supportive of the pipeline being built down the Mackenzie Valley, but, again, not at any cost. I am supportive of that happening and I feel that the majority of this Assembly support that happening, and we just want to ensure that what is rightfully ours we get back. I think that's a fair enough deal for Ottawa to imagine.

The other thing that I just want to mention before I close, Mr. Speaker, is the fact that -- and I know that one of my colleagues had mentioned it earlier -- Ottawa has been getting resource revenue royalties from us for a number of years, especially on the Norman Wells pipeline. We should start discussing whether or not we want to go after that money retroactively. That is not a stretch of the imagination, Mr. Speaker. I think we should be discussing

that, as well. We've got one diamond mine that has been in production for a number of years, it's probably halfway through its mine life and we haven't gotten any royalties from that, or hardly any. Ottawa still gets the lion's share of royalties from that mine, as well. Again, Mr. Speaker, I support the motion and I would encourage everyone, now more than ever, to put their support behind the Premier and his government to try to get us a deal with Ottawa; a fair deal at that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause