Mr. Speaker, I never did say we would complete all our negotiations and resource revenue sharing agreement by the end of March. I think the media may have taken it that way, but what I said is I want to achieve an agreement-in-principle by the end of March, recognizing that the final details would have to be worked out probably over a year or so. But, Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased that we're down now with the federal government, first time in history of negotiations, we're down to negotiating some very specific items between ourselves and the federal government. We're not going to leave a lot of these loose ends hanging out there to be dealt with somewhere in the future. We want to know that this deal is going to be a good deal. We can't just accept it for nothing. Mr. Speaker, but on principles we're still on target. We've got agreement with the aboriginal governments, the majority of them on that and I hope we can conclude that with aboriginal governments. I hope to see the same thing with the federal government. I don't know that we'll have employees moved very quickly, but I hope to agree on how many and how we might deal with the issues like salaries. I see that the federal negotiator in an article said that he wants to make sure that those people are treated fairly, that they don't make a financial sacrifice. I hope the federal government keeps that in mind as well when they negotiate or when we negotiate self-government. We have to keep the same principle in place. There are some principles we can agree on, though, and I haven't given up on the end of March for an agreement-in-principle. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Joe Handley on Question 468-15(5): Devolution Of Federal Government Civil Service Positions
In the Legislative Assembly on March 9th, 2007. See this statement in context.
Further Return To Question 468-15(5): Devolution Of Federal Government Civil Service Positions
Question 468-15(5): Devolution Of Federal Government Civil Service Positions
Item 6: Oral Questions
March 8th, 2007
Page 1393
See context to find out what was said next.