Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, on the issue of the Northern Strategy that we are anticipating to develop, I echo a lot of stuff that is in the Premier's Minister's Statement 86-15(3) that was given in the House, but I think the framework that he made reference to has a number of visions, principles, goals and objectives. It is for the three territories to develop. I am not sure, even if we do develop this Northern Strategy, the three governments at the end of the day will have to agree to the final document.
Now, in terms of priorities for the pan-territorial stuff, I am not sure if the other two governments would have the same priority as us. We may differ. I don't know how it is going to turn out at the end of the day, if we are going to agree on these pan-territorial issues. That is one concern I have. Nevertheless, with these goals and objectives that are in the framework, I agree. But I think, we, as the Territories, have to identify our own priorities versus Nunavut and the Yukon because we are all different. There might even be subheadings for different regions; for instance, gas and oil, diamonds or whatever we come up with. So there has to be a specific category for each of the territories and their priorities. There are a lot of these headings that are the goals and objectives that are in the framework I agree with. But there are going to be more subheadings within those areas.
I know that we are moving in the right direction. It is going to take us a lot of work. I don't know if we are going to conclude what the Prime Minister said hopefully by 2006. We are starting now. The funding that was given to us when they launched the strategy, this initiative, is not
going to be in place until some time in June I believe. Our portion of it is around $40 million. We still haven't decided how we are going to utilize that. Are we going to support all the stakeholders? Are we going to use some of this money to get input from the stakeholders, the municipal and band councils, or the Aboriginal Summit? I am not sure. These are questions that need to be answered. There are a lot of issues pertaining to developing this Northern Strategy. It has to be a comprehensive one because this is for the medium and long-term plan for the three territories as it stands now under that framework agreement that has been submitted here. I think our government has to take the initiative right now to start putting discussion papers or the first document out for further discussion with our northern leaders.
The direction that is being anticipated now is that we are going to do that as our government. We want to make sure that the stakeholders have enough time to look at whatever document we come up with ahead of time, but they need resources. I am not sure if our government has considered how we are going to help the stakeholders, because they need people to take a look at it. They are going to develop their own priorities based on the framework that is out there and what we give them as we see as the government. So they have to analyze all those, and they have to come up with their own document for their own organization, region or plan on these priorities for them. So we need resources. I am just wondering, Mr. Chair, if our government is going to be providing those types of resources to the stakeholders. That is one thing that has to be determined now before we start getting into asking our organizations and stakeholders to have their input. A lot of these stakeholders don't have the money to undertake this type of initiative on their own. Money is always tight in that respect.
The priorities for our government, like gas and oil, I agree with. Also revenue sharing, devolution and working with our northern aboriginal governments which is going to be key for us to develop our comprehensive strategy for us here in the Territories. It is going to take a lot of people, consultation and work put into this strategy. It might not be done within a year. I think it might take a little longer if we are going to do a thorough, comprehensive Northern Strategy only for us here in the Territories. I am not sure how quickly for the other two territories, but, at the end of the day, the three governments would have to sit down and agree to what is in that particular strategy. Hopefully the Government of Canada would look at this strategy and say this is what the people of the North, the three northern governments want and let's see how we can help them with their aspirations. It is going to take us a lot of time, effort and resources.
I agree with all of the other comments that Members made. It is going to be individual people who want to have comments and input. It is going to be a challenge, not only for us but for the three territories that will put this comprehensive Northern Strategy in place. We have to do a thorough work to make it very comprehensive because it is not only for today or next year or the year after, it is for the long term. It is for our generations to come, so we have to do as much as we can to make sure that we cover everything within this strategy. Mahsi.
---Applause