Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m very glad to see that after almost 30 years of work there’s an agreement-in-principle for devolution of our lands, resources and royalties. The Northwest Territories has hit a huge milestone. There will be many opportunities for the people to come out of this.

We have always talked about our land and our future, but the federal government has been controlling all major developments that take place. The federal government also takes all the royalties. That’s just wrong. Millions of dollars every year, dollars that should be supporting our government and aboriginal governments.

We must not forget the control of our lands and resources, and regulating access to our land, and ensuring that the environment is protected. I believe we can do a better job than the federal government.

Doing this work means hundreds of new jobs in the Northwest Territories and all the benefits that will come with them. There will be opportunities for our people. In the long run I believe Northerners will be doing even the highly technical jobs that would be filled with Southerners first. Growth means opportunity.

We’re still years from getting that control, that money that those jobs when the agreement-in-principle is signed. Signing this is the next step toward finally getting this job done. We need to have the courage to move ahead, the courage to make improvements, to make the deal and improvements for all of our people.

I’m in favour of the AIP. I believe we can work together with aboriginal governments on a better deal for all of us. There’s just great potential in this benefit for all communities.

We just finished doing our business plans. We all know how tight this government’s finances are. We know how hard it’s going to make the needs of our communities for jobs, education and health care. In the long run devolution can help us meet these needs and we must be thinking about the long run, not just the short-term political agendas.