...and the old-fashioned, patronizing, colonial mandarins. There are a few of them in Ottawa who I think are the real barriers to us moving along. We've had decades of long-distance rule, Mr. Chairman, and on one hand I tend to think if I was in their shoes I'd say, my gosh, after all these years of paying money into that big pink part of the map we're finally getting a return, do you think I'm going to let any of it go? No. I want to see the coffers of Canada finally repaid by that northern sinkhole up there. But now we're on the verge of becoming an enormously rich contributor to the rest of Canada. Is either side fair to the other? I don't think so and that is why we need to cut that connection, get rid of that connection, this Northern Affairs Program. Locate those jobs, not only those jobs, that's really, Mr. Chairman, a rather technical part of the whole process, but take the mandate and locate it in the hands of the governments in the Territories and the communities and the First Nations in the regions. So that's one way that I would like to describe what we'd look like 10 years from now.

Mr. Chairman, we're going to be able to report on the Northwest Territories where individuals and families and communities are back in control of their lives. We are still going to have to deal with the alcoholism and the substance and drug abuse and the temptations of the material world. They'll all be here with us. This is human nature, but, Mr. Chairman, they're going to be things that we can manage as a government because we have good systems in place. We have people who are prepared to

take responsibility for their actions and we will not have these things crashing and ruining so many of the lives in the communities of the Northwest Territories, which I think is what is happening today.

We will see in 2015, Mr. Chairman, I fervently hope, that we will be able to put the shameful legacy of residential schools behind us. I think this is one of the major contributors to the ills of so many people and communities in the Northwest Territories. We are trying to grapple with that and we're going to deal with it. Time will be a large factor in how that is healed and not the only one, but I hope that 10 years from now we can say that we really have left most of this behind us and we are able to get on with building our lives.

I hope that 10 years from now, Mr. Chairman, this Assembly, this room, is going to have value and purpose and relevance to the people of the NWT and is seen as a place where we are making a difference in people's lives so that we are respected, we are looked up to, we are a desirable place to come and work. We're not there right now, Mr. Speaker. This institution has got some room to grow and improve.

I hope that along with that we will see a workforce that gets satisfaction and rewards from being in our employ and being at the service of the public for the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Chairman, I hope our lakes and our lands and our waters are cleaner than they are today because the legacies of a lot of old bad practices are with us today. We have the tools at our disposal now to engage in really cleaning them up. I certainly hope we can make that happen and that 10 years from now we can say this is a cleaner land than it is even today.

Mr. Chairman, I hope that, among the regions and the communities and the peoples of the NWT, we aren't looking at each other as much anymore as being richer or poorer or bigger or smaller or more or less advantaged or disadvantaged than each other. This is a dynamic that occurs in any jurisdiction, but I do hope that we can overcome that. We are all different, we will always be different. We can recognize and even, in a lot of areas, celebrate those differences, use them to our advantage, Mr. Chairman. I really hope that we can avoid the temptation to dominate one or another because of our geography or our size or our mass or our wealth and that we will be good neighbours and we won't be competing so much.

I'd like to see, Mr. Chairman, that the NWT and Nunavut and the Yukon will emerge as truly contributing parts of Canada and not just in a physical way, but as part of the fabric and colour and the grit and the texture of what Canada has become and has the potential to be. Not, as I said earlier, just as this big pink part of the map that sucks up so much southern texture and money. I believe there's an awe and a pride in this land and I think we have a requirement, Mr. Chairman, to live up to that.

I see the NWT in 10 years, Mr. Chairman, as a place that has a new name and an identity that really does reflect who we are and what we want to be that projects our image to ourselves certainly, but also to the rest of Canada and the world. I am not going to get into what the new name should be right now. I'm not going to bite on that one. But, in 2015, Mr. Chair, we are going to have a new name. My colleagues, Mr. Chair, are suggesting that we call it Bill. Why don't we call it William? Mr. Chair, I hope that our cultures, artisans and creators can live in a place where they can flourish and grow. The health of any society, I believe, can quite quickly and accurately be gauged by the health and state of its arts and artisans. Our languages, music, traditions, both traditional and aboriginal, and those of other Canadians who live here now in Yellowknife boasts more than 100 nationalities living in the city. Is it 107? There are 117 languages I am hearing, Mr. Chair! That is extraordinary. Among our population, we count one-third our aboriginal people. Yellowknife is the biggest aboriginal community of the NWT.

I am getting all sorts of suggestions here, Mr. Chair. But the point is that when we create an environment where our arts, cultures and traditions are strong and they flourish, the rest of our society is probably very healthy as well.

Finally, Mr. Chair, the world hungers today for our oil and gas. Let's do the best we can to gain from it. But let's be ready, Mr. Chair, to take up a much bigger challenge. That would be when the world starts to hunger for our vast resources of fresh water. That, Mr. Chair, I am convinced will be struggle, a battle we must start to prepare for right away because it would be the biggest test of all of our unity, resolve and commitment to ourselves, to our environment and to the rest of Canada. That is the report from 2015. Thank you, Madam Chair.

---Applause