Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm certainly happy that this issue has hit the floor of the House and I want to thank Mr. Allen and Mr. Yakeleya for bringing it forward. It's amazing to me when as soon as this topic came up how Members are defending the system that we have with Ottawa right now. For four years I've been hearing about how terrible the arrangement that we have with Ottawa right now as to bettering our financial position and being able to have some control over our resources. Now that we're bringing up a situation where there's the possibility or notion that we should press the federal government to get provincehood to address those very issues, now we're saying how great the situation that we have with Ottawa is and how much better off we are than we would be if we had provincehood.
I am more confused by that than I am afraid of this motion that's before the House. The exact reasons that are being given for not pursuing this are the exact reasons why I think I should support it now. I mean, when the Premier says that one of the biggest obstacles that we would face is that two-thirds of the provinces would have to agree before we could do anything with this, tells me that there must be something good in it if they would ever oppose it. That's an argument that totally defeats the argument of not pursuing it.
For me to think that we have chosen a path to deal with Ottawa through a devolution process rather than going through provincehood, when we first started talking about devolution that I was involved four years ago I thought it
was exactly for that, to get provincehood or very close to provincehood. It would give us a better deal. It would give us more power to go and talk to Ottawa and a better share of our resources.
Yes, I understand that we're a very small province and we may not get a better share of our resources. That's a negotiated deal. Every province has done that. As a matter of fact, the provinces all want to reopen that door with Ottawa and talk about their share of resources that they have. Newfoundland and all the provinces as far as I know; none of them are happy except for maybe Alberta with the deal they have with Ottawa. But they want to reopen those negotiations. I don't think that is something that we have to shy away from.
I think it's a very interesting circumstance and a very good topic for discussion. I don't think that passing this motion here is going to guarantee us provincehood, not by any stretch of the imagination. But I do believe that there's nothing wrong with going and pursuing it with Ottawa. I don't think, for one thing, our Premier is respected to the extent that he should be when he goes to Ottawa. I don't think that our Premier is even recognized as a Premier. He's recognized as a Government House Leader still. That argument can be made, but we hear it called a Government House Leader a lot yet.
I'll tell you, I am not happy with the arrangement that we have with Ottawa right now when we answer everything to one Minister: the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs. That's totally ludicrous. If we're going to take our place in the Dominion of Canada, I think we should be a province. If it takes us 100 years to get something out of being a province, we'll have started the process. If we don't start the process we may never get it. We'll continue to be lead with our hand out all the time getting a little bit here, a little bit there, with absolutely no jurisdiction to do anything, no power to do anything.
I really welcome this debate and I'm going to support this motion because I think it is a very good topic to go to Ottawa with and I think it's a good thing to pursue for the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.