Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Unanimity by northern leaders is certainly desirable and something we would want. At the same time, every leader has a right to represent the issues from their own perspective. Mr. Speaker, we don't have unanimity here when we bring this issue to Ottawa. I regret that we don't have that. I wish we did. We make a lot of effort to do it, but for various reasons, it doesn't happen.

Now, Mr. Speaker, we have taken this issue on directly with Ottawa ourselves through devolution and resource revenue sharing. We have also taken it on in cooperation with all of the Premiers across the country. First of all, with the Premiers' report, the Council of the Federation report and there was the O'Brien report. There was the federal report on fiscal imbalance. We have gone forward. I have attended probably five or six Premiers' meetings where we tried to get unanimity among all of the Premiers to have one position. That has proven to be impossible.

Mr. Speaker, I wish we could get that, but we can't. It has left us at a situation now where it is very much up to the federal government and the Prime Minister to make the decision. He has, in a recent speech this week, said that he was going to make that decision with regard to fiscal

imbalance and straightening out how that is right across the country, including us, in the upcoming federal budget. He was very clear in his statement of that. That includes both the formulas, or equalization in the case of the provinces, and also resource revenue sharing. So, Mr. Speaker, it is a national problem. It is an issue. I wish we had unanimity among all of the leaders, but there are a lot of different agendas at play. I have given up thinking that we will ever get to the point where we all agree. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.