Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are all frustrated with the amount of time it's taken to achieve an agreement on devolution and on resource revenue sharing. It becomes more critical as we have more resource development.

Mr. Speaker, our government has had to work through two federal elections over the past three years. That has certainly made it difficult for us to show substantial progress. Mr. Speaker, I have made it very clear with the Prime Minister that we want a deal on resource revenue sharing before the pipeline goes ahead. The Prime Minister has heard that, Mr. Speaker. If one were to check his speech that he made in this building, the Great Hall, then he also links those two together. He did it the opposite way. He said we won't get resource revenue sharing without the pipeline, but I think the converse is true and it's been our point as well. So now it's how do we move ahead.

Mr. Speaker, we got the message to him. We have to figure out how we make progress on this. I think with the appointment of a negotiator that is a big piece. Hopefully we can move ahead. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Mr. Speaker, I think there is a huge distinction with somebody saying, a Prime Minister saying, you have to show us that you are ready for business. You do that by approving a pipeline when there is no mention there whatsoever that he is ready to come to us with a resource revenue sharing deal. There is no mention of that whatsoever. There is no indication of this in the statement, Mr. Speaker, and that should concern us all.

Mr. Speaker, I think Canadians have learned that the Prime Minister is quite clear on what he wants to do and what he doesn't want to do. People like him for that, or people may not like him for what he does do.

I think we should be very concerned that he has shown no indication whatsoever because I think if he really wanted to, he could make that deal. I have a problem if the Premier starts interpreting...

Do you have a question, Ms. Lee?

Mr. Speaker, my question to the Premier is, how could he possibly think that the Prime Minister coming to our home saying you are not going to see anything until you approve the pipeline is a good deal for us? How does he interpret it that way? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has always been very clear, as has Minister Prentice, that we have to work together on this thing. So when he says something, I take him at his word.

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has already moved this agenda ahead through Minister Prentice. As I said, Harvie Andre has been appointed as the new federal negotiator. They know that resource revenue sharing and devolution are together. That is moving ahead. As I said earlier, Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has already asked Minister Flaherty, Minister of Finance, to bring forward a proposal on financing in the Northwest Territories. Hopefully that is going to appear in December. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If you listen to the answer just given by the Premier, I think one has to notice how passive that answer is. It speaks about what the Prime Minister did or did not do, what Mr. Flaherty did or Mr. Prentice did. I see nowhere there what actions precisely the Premier has to take that shows that he understands that time is running out for the GNWT. The pipeline is going to go and we are going to have no deal and we are going to be sitting there like a loser. I would like to know exactly, in concrete terms, what can he show us that gives him any comfort that Mr. Harper has our interest in mind and not the oil companies. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let me just say at this time that there is no assurance at this time that the pipeline will even move ahead. Imperial are doing their costing on that one. Mr. Speaker, in assurances, I can tell you that the federal government have indicated that they are going to respond to the fiscal imbalance situation. With regard to the Territories, they have said they will deal with territorial financing on a separate track. The Finance Minister of Canada has said he will put forward a proposal in December. Mr. Speaker, those are all commitments that the federal government have made. Mr. Speaker, we have made it known to them that we anticipate and we expect that it is possible to have an agreement-in-principle on devolution and resource revenue sharing within four months and certainly before a federal election. Mr. Speaker, that is going to be our biggest hammer to make sure the Prime Minister and the federal government follow through on the commitments that they have made so far. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to say again that this federal government has been very quick in doing things that they want to do. They have been very quick and they are operating on the assumption that they have a very limited time. We should be concerned that they have shown nothing, they have done nothing, indicated nothing that shows us that they are going to have this deal. So I would like to know and I can't go just by what the Premier is saying, so could he produce some evidence from the Premier, a transcript from the meeting, a letter from the Prime Minister, a letter from Prentice, somebody somewhere that shows that we are on the agenda, we are on the radar of this federal government on resource revenue sharing and devolution? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I will take a look at my files. I don't have a specific letter that comes to mind right now, but I will undertake to do what the Member is asking. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Premier, Mr. Handley. It gets back to my Member's statement that I made earlier in terms of what the real state of the economy here is in the Northwest Territories. For a territory of 42,000 people with an economy that's grown 71 percent in the last number of

years, to be losing people is very, very concerning to me and concerning to a lot of residents here in the Northwest Territories.

I would like to ask the Premier if the government has a strategy to deal with the migrant worker issue. The reason I ask this question is we are losing $200 million. That's just an estimate on my base of about 2,000 migrant workers that we have here. I would like to ask the Premier that question, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a lot of different reasons why our population is dropping. We haven't seen the analysis from Stats Canada, but I understand it's something like we have 700 people less than we had at the last census. Part of it is people having smaller families. Part of it, Mr. Speaker, has to do with cost of living. Those are issues we have to deal with as well. Some of that is availability of land and that's another issue we are dealing with. Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of reasons why. There are a number of initiatives our departments are undertaking to keep the cost of living within reason, assuming that is one of the main reasons why people are choosing to live outside of the Territories in many cases and rotate back and forth.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, is the government currently working with industry to try to find some ways to keep people here? There has been many of us on this side of the House over the past three years who have suggested ways and means to try to attract people and retain people here in the Northwest Territories. For instance, a tax-free zone north of 60 has been suggested, tax deductions have been suggested, we talked about putting the revenue from resource royalties in trust. That hasn't gone anywhere either. I would like to ask the Premier that question. Where is that at, Mr. Speaker? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member's question is with regard to what we are doing with industry and that falls within the responsibility of the Minister for ITI. I will refer it to him. I recognize that he also carried on with some discussion about fiscal issues as well. I will leave it to the Minister of ITI to respond. Thank you.