Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I speak today on a key concern with the land and resources devolution agreement-in-principle, its development to date, and the essential steps that must guide the completion of this work.

As proposed, devolution means taking the exact same federal resource management and regulatory regime and moving it across the street as is. Yet Northerners have been clear that the federal regime is inadequate and unrepresentative. It is not based on principles of sustainable development and lacks a full set of socio-economic and environmental tools for integrated resource management that we demand.

This agreement puts in place a system lacking our own NWT stamp of improvements and standards. As currently conceived in the AIP, we will not begin the process of improvement until after the final agreement. Upon devolution, this government will be swamped by huge new responsibilities and battling to keep ahead of the learning curve while taking care of business. Contemplating new law will be unrealistic. If we’re going to fix this system, the

time to do it is beforehand. The resource management regime we put in place must be based upon broad, inclusive and comprehensive consultations with First Nations, stakeholders and the public at large.

What is economically, socially and environmentally sustainable development in the eyes of Northerners? We can’t sign off on dollars until we know what an NWT management regime and the consultation and legislation to develop it is going to cost, and what the feds must pay.

Northerners need an AIP that ensures this will take place before, not after we assume these responsibilities. Adopting mirror legislation is simply not good enough. At a minimum, the final agreement must provide for the fact that new legislation will be made-in-NWT law, with supporting programs and necessary dollars attached.

The recent interim government response to the JRP report demonstrates that sustainability principles and firm law are crucial. The IGR provides people with no confidence that this government has the maturity and commitment to sustainable development that must be the basis of our future resource management regime, although I note that there is time for that.

Why, while negotiations of this AIP are underway, did the Premier focus on vague and costly public consultations on our political future when we should have been discussing crucial questions?

I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted

Why were we out discussing vague consultation on our political future when we should have been asking crucial questions like when devolution comes, what law should we put in place? Some of us were raising this question and it makes me wonder if we are now where Canada was in requesting a seat at the UN Security Council. Do we lack the maturity and track record to qualify? I sincerely hope that is not true, that we do qualify, and I will be participating in discussions and looking for the Premier’s action to remedy this major flaw towards responsible devolution.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take Members on a little virtual tour upon entering the Northwest Territories at the Alberta border. You get to the border at the 60th Parallel. We still have our nice polar bear sign,

although I understand the new sign has no polar bear on it at all, just a compass. The old polar bear sign is still there. Then you come across our new tourist information booth, which we spent a lot of money on. And thank you for that, ITI and tourism, for that beautiful new facility there.

However, we have to have people manning that tourist information booth who are mature, knowledgeable, and very welcoming at the border, otherwise all the expense of buildings and infrastructure in the world is not going to make people feel welcome when they cross over the NWT border. Some teenager on a laptop computer on the Internet who looks like they’re annoyed to look up from what they’re doing when a tourist comes there is not acceptable, and that’s what we had for most of this summer. I had so many complaints from tourists who arrived in Hay River.

We want people who say, “Hello. How are you? Where are you coming from? Why are you coming here? What do you want to see? What do you want to do? And here’s all the information.” That’s the kind of thing we need. We have had them in the past. They are available. They are out there. That was not the case this summer. We have a beautiful new facility that needs some work. I understand the Minister was down there and had a look at that and it has a ways to go.

So forward on, now we come to the waterfall signs. And actually one roadside stop too. Mr. McLeod knows about this one roadside stop in this whole area. The waterfall signs, you’re on the waterfall route, which is very interesting. We have the attraction of the falls when you’re coming into the Northwest Territories. Beautiful, really worldclass kind of places to get to, and all summer long there are campgrounds associated with them. You can go in there, get firewood, rent a campground space, and it’s wonderful.

However, another problem. I don’t know... Most of you probably know Red McBryan. I think he’s 92 years old. I ran into him at a seniors’ gathering the other night. He is very upset. He drives back and forth to his farm at the border all the time and as of Labour Day weekend the gates are all closed. Now, I know the GNWT owns the campground and they own the infrastructure and they don’t want it vandalized, but may I suggest that the tourist season does not end on Labour Day weekend. It was a beautiful fall this year, beautiful weather, and many people continue down that road and when you first come upon them, you see a majorly large closed sign plastered on there.

Mrs. Groenewegen, your time for your Member’s statement has expired. Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize some of the students that are here for the Aurora College Community Wellness Program. I’ll just highlight their names: Sharon Hopf, Yellowknife; Jennifer Jonasson, Lutselk'e; Gloria Hardisty, Wrigley; Trudy Kochon, Colville Lake; Jessica Field, Fort Providence; Gladys Edwards, Aklavik; Clara Sabourin, Hay River Reserve; Charlene Blake, Tsiigehtchic; Karen McLeod, Fort Liard; Lisa Judas, Wekweeti; Donald Yukon, Deline; Maria McSwain, Fort McPherson; and also their instructor, Carol Gregor, are here with us. Welcome. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s an honour to introduce His Worship Mr. Ray Ruben, the mayor of Paulatuk, and his daughters Bessie, Gloria and Rebecca. Thank you and welcome to the House.

Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize the community health representative from Lutselk'e, Jennifer Jonasson. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it’s good to see so many people in the House today. I would like to welcome everybody. I want to welcome some of my constituents: Clara Sabourin from Hay River Reserve. It’s good to see her here. Thank you for coming. We also have, from my home town, Jessica Field, who has come to join us today. Thank you. And an old friend of mine, Jim Allard. Good to see you here, Jim. And of course, we can’t have enough McLeod’s in the House, so I’d like to welcome Karen here with us. Thank you for coming also.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize three constituents in the gallery. There’s Gladys Edwards from Aklavik, we don’t get many constituents here so… Charlene Blake from Tsiigehtchic and also Maria McSwain from Fort McPherson. I’d like to welcome you to the House. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a long-time friend and colleague, Donald Yukon. We went to high school together. Also a McLeod that my brother’s already beat me to the punch and recognized her. Welcome to the gallery.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to recognize some of the Sahtu leadership, specifically the K’asho Gotine chief Arthur Tobac, Metis leader Jim Allard, the Yamoga Land Corporation president, Mr. Harvey Pierrot, and also Larry Hutchison, who is the advisor to the leadership there. I also want to recognize the Aurora College students Trudy Kochon from Colville Lake and Donald Yukon from Deline. I also am very happy to recognize an old school chum, Ray Ruben, a good hockey player from Paulatuk.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Mr. Wilbert Antoine, a constituent from Fort Simpson. He’s working with Canadian Zinc. Also accompanying him is Mr. Chris Reid from Canadian Zinc as well.

Mr. Menicoche.