I have a return to a written question asked by Mr. Allen on March 25, 2004, regarding a bill of intent to seek provincial status.
The Government of the Northwest Territories does not intend to seek provincial status at this time as we believe that devolution, and not provincehood, is the best way to gain control over lands, water and resources in the Northwest Territories.
The GNWT, together with the Aboriginal Summit, are currently in devolution negotiations with the Government of Canada. With the March 18, 2004, signing of the devolution framework agreement, we have made significant progress.
There are a number of factors that suggest seeking provincial status at this time may not provide the powers and benefits that are being sought through devolution negotiations.
As the Premier outlined previously, achieving provincial status does not guarantee control over land, resources or resource revenues. Although Manitoba became a province in 1870, and Saskatchewan and Alberta became provinces in 1905, control over lands and resources was not transferred to these provinces until the 1930s.
As a province, the Northwest Territories would no longer receive funding from Canada through a formula financial agreement. Instead, funding would be subject to existing equalization arrangements. Equalization payments are based on the revenue-raising capacity of a province and do not consider the cost of providing government programs and services. The existing formula financing arrangement with the federal government does consider the higher costs of providing programs and services in the Northwest Territories. This gives our government more money on a per capita basis than it would likely receive through equalization.
Devolution negotiations offer the best possibility for the people of the Northwest Territories to gain control over their own lands and resources. We do not believe that there would be any further benefit from putting aside the success we have achieved to date to start a new process to gain provincial status.