Good afternoon, colleagues. Welcome back to the House. Orders of the day. Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good afternoon. Mr. Speaker, in 2005, Alberta announced the creation of the Alberta Centennial Scholarship Program, which created 325 annual scholarships across Canada, valued at $2,005 each starting in the 2006-07 school year.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to report that 25 scholarships have been made available for distribution in the Northwest Territories for individuals pursuing post-secondary education. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment will award these scholarships to students pursuing training in the area of skilled trades and occupations. We will announce the first round of award winners in February 2007.

Scholarships will be awarded to candidates who:

• • are NWT residents;
• • have recently completed an educational program, for example, high school or pre-employment program;
• • demonstrate that they are continuing their formal education by pursuing or attending training in a trade or occupation; and,
• • priority will be given to women in trades.

Applications for these scholarships will be available through the student financial assistance section of Education, Culture and Employment.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that the Alberta government has included the Northwest Territories in the Centennial Scholarship Program and I have thanked the Alberta Minister of Education for making these awards available to our students. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment has had many years of partnership with Alberta Education and these scholarships are a further testament to that close relationship. Mr. Speaker, through this statement today, I ask my colleagues in the House to join me in thanking Alberta for their support that will be used to help our students pursue studies in the high needs area of trades and occupations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, FASD, is a lifelong disability. Effective prevention efforts, early diagnosis, supportive environments and a range of special supports and services are necessary to assist individuals and their families in their journey toward self-reliance and well-being.

The Government of the Northwest Territories, GNWT, is committed to addressing the issue of FASD. As you may be aware, the GNWT has been a member of the Canada Northwest Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Partnership since 2000. The NWT is now the lead jurisdiction for the group. The alliance is made up of seven jurisdictions that work towards the development and promotion of an inter-provincial/territorial approach to prevention, intervention, care and support of individuals affected with FASD.

On September 25th, as lead Minister of the partnership, Minister Miltenberger hosted a meeting in Yellowknife with Ministers from Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Yukon, Nunavut and Saskatchewan participating. We would like to commend Mr. Miltenberger for his commitment and dedication to this important issue.

At the meeting, the annual report from the research network was reviewed and future research opportunities were discussed. The report on the most recent conference and the steering committee's annual activities report and work plan was discussed, as was the Even One is Too Many: A Call for a Comprehensive Action Plan for FASD, recently tabled by the federal Standing Committee on Health. Ministerial colleagues and the NWT will call on Health Canada and the standing committee to recognize the work of the partnership and ensure that meaningful consultation with our group occurs in the development of any national comprehensive plan for FASD.

This is the first time the NWT has hosted a Canada Northwest Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Partnership Ministers' meeting. There is great value in this work. All the participating territories and provinces share similar challenges and it makes sense that we work together to strengthen our efforts. Everyone will benefit from sharing experiences and resources and the NWT is bringing some exciting work forward.

The GNWT is committed to preventing FASD in our territory. It is an important task and with alliances such as this, we are working together to achieve this goal. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Ministers' statements. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have heard a lot of talk lately and since I have been here about the resource revenues and the devolution talks and it seems to me, Mr. Speaker, like we go in circles. I would like to stand today and issue a challenge. I would like to challenge the leadership of the major regions across the Northwest Territories to come together in one room as leaders, no bureaucrats, no negotiators, no consultants, just the leaders, because they are elected to represent the best interests of the people. I think if we can get our leaders into one room and come up with some kind of an agreement, then maybe we can be armed to go to Ottawa and come up with some numbers as far as a deal goes.

I respect the fact that the leaders want to represent their people and get the best deal for their people and well they should, but sometimes you have to look at the overall picture and right now it seems like we are spinning our wheels. Everyone has a different agenda and I think the agenda for the leadership across the NWT should be the same. It should be getting the best deal possible for the Northwest Territories. If it has to go into a trust fund, let's put it into a trust fund. If they come up with self-government agreements, then they can divide it according to some criteria that they come up with.

Mr. Speaker, pride is a terrible thing sometimes if used the wrong way. Leaders have to be leaders, put their pride aside and come to some kind of an agreement. Mr. Speaker, I am starting to be very concerned about the amount of money that is leaving the Northwest Territories. We are not coming up with an agreement. We have to get on the same page. I have to challenge the leadership of the major regional groups in the Northwest Territories to come up with a wise decision and give direction to the people who work with them to work out the details. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. (Translation) Mr. Speaker, the issue of hearing negotiating resource revenue sharing and devolution talks between the GNWT and federal government, we're beginning to tune out the phrase. Mr. Speaker, for the past 20-plus years this government is still in negotiations, but no light yet at the end of the tunnel. We cannot wait any longer, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, with the recent cuts of $1 billion from the federal government, are we waiting patiently for another drastic cut, this time in health, education or even justice, that is high importance in our regions and NWT?

Mr. Speaker, we need to take a proactive approach, instead of reacting to these changes that occurred. We must lobby the federal government as a united Government of the NWT. Mr. Speaker, we need to invite our aboriginal government neighbours to the negotiating table. The federal government is really not listening to our leadership. It's time that this government come to some agreement in writing with our neighbouring aboriginal governments. Go to Ottawa with a united front. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

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

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if you follow some rough math in the two and a half minutes that I have and each of us has to stand here and make a statement today, $1,250 will have flown out of the Northwest Territories in resource royalties and taxes. That's $1,250 in two and a half minutes. That's three- quarters of a million dollars a day, Mr. Speaker, because we have not yet been able to get ourselves together and present that unified voice, that unified bargaining strength with Ottawa among all the northern leaders to ensure that our part of Canada has the share of wealth of this country that most other parts of Canada already have.

Mr. Speaker, it's a dilemma. We don't have a hammer. We don't have aces up our sleeves. We are a territory under the Constitution and the laws of Canada, but what we are really lacking, Mr. Speaker, after decades now of trying to establish ourselves as a legitimate partner in the development and the management and the benefits of all the resources up here, we have lacked the will on the part of the federal government to really make this happen. We are hobbled, as some of my colleagues have already talked about today, by a lack of unity among our collective leadership and that really should be where we should be going. We do, Mr. Speaker, have the moral and the political, even the legal right, to demand this, but we've got to present that strong, unified force.

We've got to set some terms because at the rate at which the wealth is leaving this territory and the expansion of those resources and that wealth, Mr. Speaker, we have a lot to lose. So now is the time when we really have to apply ourselves, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we're having a theme day, as you can tell, on resource revenue sharing. We've been talking about this for a long time. On the plus side, we've got a lot of resources from which to derive revenue in the Northwest Territories. Not every jurisdiction has that, so let's lay that out first and count our blessings. We've got the resources. We have enough resources to make revenue sharing a win-win for everyone: for Canada, for our territory, for aboriginal governments and their aspirations.

My worry, Mr. Speaker, is that we are in an extremely vulnerable situation. We don't have control of our resources, so we don't have control over the development or the agenda of development. What would give the Government of Canada a good reason to want to cut a good deal for northerners? There's only 43,000 of us. Barely a good-sized town by southern standards. We have a vast geography, but we also have vast resources. But we don't have a lot of people. Is there anything about the North or the people that could possibly want to make the Government of Canada be very fair and generous to us? Region by region aboriginal governments with unsettled claims could probably make a good legal argument for a fair deal. In addition to that though I believe that it's the potential strength of a unified effort from the North that could bring about a fair deal from a legal and moral obligation. Right now we're literally and figuratively all over the map though.

Some regions are satisfied with benefits from businesses and employment opportunities from resource development. Some want access and benefits agreements and they're focused on that. Some want ownership in resource development, infrastructure like the pipeline. Some want advancement and use it as leverage on land claims and self-government. Someone needs to show the leadership to bring all of the interests together and with that unified voice stand our ground with the federal government and with industry. If it's not the territorial government's role to bring that voice together, then I respectfully ask whose job is it, and I seriously put that out there, Mr. Speaker.

I know one thing. While we're deciding who speaks for the North, no one speaks for the North, and we, by default, will concede our agenda to the federal government. It's time to show that we understand what's at stake for all of us and future generations of northerners. Time is of the essence. It's not going to get any easier as time goes on. Would someone please stand up and declare it to be their first priority and their full-time job, if necessary, to speak for the North with our best interests at heart? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my Member's statement will focus on the need to rise up as a nation of northern people and to ask ourselves a serious question: Are we going to die or are we going to wither away or are we going to survive as a nation, one North, one nation, in the face of the federal government by reaping our resources right under our land?

Mr. Speaker, I read a book titled "The Genius of Sitting Bull." Sitting Bull used his leadership tactics to save his nation, his movement, his ways to get a goal done. Mr. Speaker, this tactic has been used today in multi-national corporations to save their businesses. Now, Mr. Speaker,

why not consider using Sitting Bull's tactics with the devolution and resource revenue sharing? For example, Mr. Speaker, we need a North who has leaders with a vision of the North to what the North can be. Gather the leaders. We've been told that the North will see all these benefits. We've been hearing for many, many years a North that can put together a plan of all leaders to believe in the idea that the North can survive on its own. We can make a made-in-the-north agreement.

We have talent and skilled people to provide us with the numbers, provide us with formulas to look at post-resource revenue sharing management agreements, post-devolution agreements. We have these people in the Northwest Territories, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we've been told by the experts in our briefings, and Mr. Braden has mentioned about the potential losses for the North, of royalties, revenues, and the fact that we are a territory, not a constitutionally protected entity to fit in with the partners of Confederation.

It's high time that this government, along with other aboriginal governments who hold a vast amount of land in the Northwest Territories, get together with the businesspeople, put a management plan together to go down to Ottawa and demand that these resources stay in the Northwest Territories where we can support our people in the Northwest Territories once and for all. Let's get the job done, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, as well, would like to speak on the issue of resource sharing and the long quest that we have had as a territory. On this file, Mr. Speaker, I consider the Conservative government to be as bad and as slow as the former Liberal government in terms of delivering. Prior to the last federal election there were promises made, commitments made in writing to the people of the Northwest Territories. To date they have not been delivered on. There were commitments made to other jurisdictions, like Newfoundland, where Prime Minister Harper recently went to visit, and the Conservative government down there took great exception and umbrage to the lack of action on their commitments that were made to them.

Mr. Speaker, we're in the same circumstance. Yes, it is good for us to be united and coordinated and have one voice. It's critical. But the ones with the levers year after year, the Conservative government, the Liberal government, is the federal government, and they have been very slow. There is no rush for them to solve this issue, to resolve it, to commit to any closure. They are awash in a surplus, it says in the Globe today. A big chunk of that is our cash. They are in no hurry.

My message to the people of the Northwest Territories is very simple. There's going to be an election coming soon. When that election comes and if the Conservative government has not delivered on these commitments, it's as simple as ABC -- Anybody But a Conservative -- when you vote. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today is an important topic we're talking about, resource revenue and devolution. Since the 15th Assembly started we talked about this government trying to get a fair deal for the

Northwest Territories for resource revenue. Apparently, like Mr. Ramsay said earlier, we're into year three now and we still haven't gotten close to a deal.

The Premier on occasion has travelled to Ottawa and spoken with the Prime Minister and the Minister of Indian Affairs, Jim Prentice, on issues such as this. Most of the time we hear on the radio that oh, the meeting went well. How well is well if you haven't heard exactly what's being discussed on this side?

Mr. Speaker, I have my background in terms of we're going to get a deal during this Assembly. I don't think we will. I'm not as confident as some of my colleagues here. I'm not as confident as the Premier. But we still have to sit down and make sure that our Premier will actually get down to Ottawa and, again like some of my colleagues said, with the aboriginal leaders. Sit down and negotiate a fair resource revenue deal. That has to take place first with the aboriginal people, and then take it to Ottawa. We can't go on and say okay, look, something will come up before this term is over, but I encourage the leader, Mr. Premier, to go out there and get something done for us, for the people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.