Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS the 15th Legislative Assembly vision and goals document states that the people of the Northwest Territories should be the primary beneficiaries of the development of our resources;

AND WHEREAS there is no agreement at this time providing for Northwest Territories governments to benefit from a share of resource royalties;

AND WHEREAS it has been estimated, based on a natural gas price of $4 U.S. per thousand cubic feet, the return over the next 30 years on a Mackenzie gas project, in the absence of a resource revenue sharing agreement, would be $900 million for the GNWT compared with $21.7 billion for the federal government;

AND WHEREAS our governments are losing out daily on substantial royalties from minerals and hydrocarbons which are continually leaving the territory to the benefit of the Government of Canada;

AND WHEREAS major resource development projects, while they create employment and business opportunities, also create substantial infrastructure and program demands on our governments, and hardships for residents in the form of higher costs for goods and services and social impacts;

AND WHEREAS the changes created by the proposed Mackenzie gas project and other developments will pose challenges for our residents and communities that our government does not have the means to address;

AND WHEREAS a network of protected areas has yet to be established to ensure the preservation of the land for future generations;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Sahtu, that this Legislative Assembly endorses the Mackenzie gas project and supports efforts to ensure that northerners realize demonstrable net benefits from such projects;

AND FURTHER that the Legislative Assembly urges the federal government to negotiate a fair resource revenue sharing agreement that provides northern governments with an equitable share of royalties from our hydrocarbons and minerals as essential to ensuring the people of the Northwest Territories are the primary beneficiaries of the development of our resources.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.