Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, Regular Members on this side of the House are going to stand up and try to get some answers as to why three years into the life of this government, we seem no closer to having an agreement-in-principle amongst our northern governments with respect to devolution and resource revenue sharing for our fight with the federal government. We need to have devolution and resource revenue sharing. We need surety on our future. Our children and the next generations to come are counting on us and this government to deliver. Mr. Speaker, where does responsibility lie for the fact that we still do not have a deal? Most are very quick to point and lay blame with the federal government. They are the easy targets, Mr. Speaker. However, much of the responsibility falls on us as northern leaders. Our government and our Premier have failed in getting all the aboriginal governments and leaders together to get us to a unified position going forward to push for a deal, a deal that is collectively what is in all of our best interest.
Let's be honest, Mr. Speaker, with each other here. We all want others to like us. From a very young age, we are taught to get along with others. So it is not hard to see, even as leaders, how many of us strive to be liked above all else. Unfortunately, for our Premier being liked is not a criteria of leadership success. Your staff may like you, MLAs may like you and the public may like you, but why are we not meeting the goal of getting an agreement-in-principle signed? Do aboriginal governments and leadership respect you and, in effect, our government? Mr. Speaker, it would appear that they don't.
Leadership is not a popularity contest, Mr. Speaker. Clearly one of our collective goals and objectives coming through these doors three years ago was to get an AIP and proceed toward a deal with the federal government. We obviously have not done that. We have less than a year left and nothing to show for our efforts. Leadership is more critical today than it ever has been and we need to
have someone get all of our leaders together to have a unified voice in our fight with Ottawa.
The time for playing Mr. Nice Guy is over, Mr. Speaker. This government has to get tough and make demands and earn the respect that it needs to deliver on what all of our residents put us all here to do, and leadership, Mr. Speaker, is all about respect and we need some immediately. Mahsi.
---Applause