Mr. Speaker, I will undertake to put together something like that that clearly articulates, as much as I can, the issue and the concern we have, and the ask we have. I can't give a specific time but certainly within the next week or so we should be able to have something put together. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The next obvious question is, in association with such a campaign would the Premier undertake to invest some resources in making people aware that that is an avenue in which they can participate so that it would become known to them that they could access that? We would like it to be widely...We'd like uptake on it on a wide basis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, yes, we could propose some alternatives that they could use, if they want, in terms of forwarding this to their MP or to the Prime Minister or wherever they choose to put pressure. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, want to ask questions on the resource revenue sharing and devolution negotiations. I want to ask the Premier in terms of Mrs. Groenewegen's suggestion, how do we, within the life of this government, see any light of a deal between now and the end of the life of this government? Besides shaming the government and putting pressure on the government in terms of working with our aboriginal organizations, turning up the heat, so to speak, on the issue with the federal government. This is an important enough issue that Mrs. Groenewegen has suggested a moratorium and it has come to that place here. So how do we, in terms of the life of this government, turn the heat up in Ottawa that says come and let's negotiate a deal that's beneficial to the northern people?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said yesterday, it's not just me who has to be out there. We need all 19 MLAs speaking the same, getting the same message to Ottawa and to those who are going to be influential in this decision, whether it's in industry or banking or wherever it may be. We do need the money for our people here and we have a right to the money. We have a right to be able to make those decisions ourselves. Mr. Speaker, I will undertake to do such a letter, to get some wording that all of us can use and do that as quickly as we can. As we enter the last months of our government's term, I think it's important that we all be heard. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I understand what the Premier is saying and sometimes we have to take some drastic measures as some of the Members on this side talk about in terms of getting some action. I understand that the farmer has to hit the donkey

right between the eyes to get its attention, so I guess what I'm asking is how do you get the attention of Ottawa? Do we, as a government, say enough is enough in terms of the resource revenue sharing deal, because that's where we're backed into this corner in terms of what is it that we've got to do? I mean, we're playing the nice guy, so how do we get the attention of Ottawa? Do we have to hit them right between the eyes where it hurts? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think I'm being referred to as a farmer, but I'm not sure.

---Laughter

It is an honour.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, we have to do what we can to move it ahead and at the same time recognize that the Prime Minister has made commitments. He does say to me in letters and so on that he is encouraged by the progress our negotiators are making. So we don't want to change the path we're on in terms of negotiations, but we want to put more pressure on to put some real meat to this agreement, some finality to a lot of it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, our leader is similar to a farmer, you know, you reap what you sow in terms of your gardening here. So, Mr. Speaker, would the Premier, in terms of the urgency and the need for this type of deal to get done with the aboriginal governments and with the people of the Northwest Territories, would he look at strong...People are asking why are you guys not a provincial government? You'd have more authority. Right now you're a territorial government under the administrative act of the federal government. You know, what type of leverage do we have? Right now we have our land and we have the aboriginal governments onside on some of the issues. We need to move this up so, again, can the Premier give me some assurance in terms of things are getting done and that we need to reach a point where there's no turning back? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We will continue to do everything we can. We're going to stay the course on the negotiations. Those are going on. I think there is some progress being made, but, as I say, the federal negotiators look after the federal interests and they're tough; our people have to be equally tough. Mr. Speaker, we need to continue to have, as I said, the 19 MLAs onside, we need you talking to your constituents, we need your constituents talking to the federal government. Mr. Speaker, the window is short and as a farmer I have to make hay while the sun shines...

...and we must continue to move forward. Contrary to the CBC media report this morning, I'm not giving up on an agreement-in-principle by the end of March. I never did say we could get a final agreement, but I am still working toward an agreement-in-principle. The federal government say that's my timetable, not theirs, and I want to do everything I can to make sure that that's our timetable collectively, the federal government, aboriginal leaders and myself, that we want an agreement-in-principle by the end of March or as quickly as we can here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

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

The work that was done by the Minister responsible at the time for it is excellent work, there's no doubt about it. I think what was done on boards and agencies was a first step, not the conclusion. It's work that is not going to be wasted; it's work that we can pick up and carry on with. Mr. Speaker, given the workload we have, there's only so much we can do. Given the budget we had, there's only so much we can do. However, Mr. Speaker, I'm also not happy that we weren't able to conclude this, but I am pleased that we were able to do some things that have carried this forward. For example, the excellence through partnerships, the third-party accountability framework, does a lot of the work from a different perspective, but does a lot of the work in dealing with the accountability of boards and agencies, so it's not as if this was dropped and nothing was done. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.