Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Because the directions from the motion are to the Legislative Assembly, then this side of the House will have a free vote on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, let me just make a few comments. One is that, yes, we do often take water for granted in our environment because we have so much of it and we have such good quality water that we use it everyday and don't think about it. But, Mr. Speaker, water issues are, in many ways, very related to the issues we talked about earlier on climate change because the two go hand in hand. The number of forest fires or the changes in wildlife patterns or vegetation patterns are often more tied to water than it is to anything else.

Mr. Speaker, I think water issues, more than anything else, are going to challenge us as political leaders in how we manage the issues because water has to be dealt with regionally, it has to be dealt with nationally, it has to be dealt with globally. I don't think Alberta can control and have full decision-making over its water, nor can the Northwest Territories, nor can Saskatchewan or anybody else. It has to be broader than that because we must look at it at least as a basin. We know all the waters that flow into here come from as far away as the Yukon and British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan. So we have to work with other jurisdictions, Mr. Speaker, on the control of water. It's not something that we should want to have our own total control over the waters in the Northwest Territories, because if we do that then so will the other jurisdictions and none of us have control over where rain falls or where the water flows within the basins.

It's important for us to look at it regionally. I think that's the most urgent need for us, both in terms of quality and quantity. It's important for us not just to look at the water itself on the ground, but also to consider issues around airborne pollutants as well that cross many, many borders. Certainly it is an international issue.

Mr. Speaker, let me say that I appreciate the motion as brought forward today and I think it's one that we have to look at seriously ourselves as legislators and consider how we're going to deal with it because, in my mind, to repeat myself, it is not something that each jurisdiction should have unilateral control over, but rather it's a shared responsibility we all have. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.