Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess one way of looking at this as we talk about what the possibility is, the potential, right now an agreement-in-principle is a base document to begin serious negotiations on what authorities would be drawn from Ottawa, and it’s, if I can, to try to compare it to what we would do, I’ll use the house scenario, for example. Many potential homeowners, as you buy a new house or upgrade, you find you need to do some renovations and make some changes, but you can’t do that until you actually buy the house. In a sense, we’re negotiating this fixed piece of work and looking to those changes that need to occur as we take on that authority in the Northwest Territories.

So similar to what we would do in the case of the homeowner, the Government of the Northwest Territories, I believe we can, if we were to sign and decide to move forward on an agreement-in-principle, and as the negotiations started with all our partners including those that would join us from the aboriginal groups and governments, that we would be able to then move forward and start to identify those legislative changes that need to occur so that as we take it over it spells out a timeline initially. After that it becomes… We have to be prepared and ready to implement what we see as our programs and our changes in the North. I believe we can begin that work after the signing of an agreement-in-principle is made. Thank you.

I appreciate the Premier’s comments there. Of course, we can begin anything that we want. What I’m asking is can we complete this process? Can we get it done in the interim

between the AIP and the final agreement in terms of a vision and the sort of implementation plan that’s explicit enough that we know the legislation we’re going to want to develop right after the final agreement is done? I’m looking for something a little more than just, yeah, we can do that, we can do anything. Thank you.

In the life left in this 16th Assembly and the timelines we are faced with and what decisions can be put in place and acted on, our window is shortening every day. On top of that, the fact that we’re committed to working together with the aboriginal governments and the federal government on the process forward and that negotiation process would have to spell some of that out as to what we can start to look at and change and build into a work program that would go forward. It would be difficult to say that we could have it all done, wrapped up and ready to present.

What I could say is, depending on the will of the House and aboriginal and the federal government as the final set of negotiations begin, to highlight those changes that would need to be made to truly make it a northern piece of legislation, we’d have to start that process with our partners, and, of course, we can’t dictate the timelines on that process. But I would say we can start it and get a plan in place. Thank you.

I like the last phrase there. The hope there’s room for that if we do go forward with this AIP.

I guess I haven’t quite developed the confidence I need to lay myself completely behind this yet, but the draft AIP lays out the financial provisions of the devolution transfer, including the transfer of funds currently devoted by the federal government’s resource management in the NWT. As we all know, the funds currently devoted by Ottawa are inadequate for the job. Major holes exist, such as the lack of completed land use plans, underfunded or incomplete cumulative effect research and monitoring, other underfunded or temporarily funded programs, new software, et cetera. If we accept this transfer of resource management responsibilities on the basis of current expenditures, we’ll be short-changing ourselves forever. The federal government cries poor, but has...

Do you have a question, Mr. Bromley?

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. The federal government has $16 billion for fighter jets, but how will the Premier ensure a final financial agreement provides funding for the real cost of the sustainable, responsible and northern resource management regime for the future, or what options can be considered to address this cap just recognizing the value here, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

The caps that are talked about at times, if you look at, again, I go back to the scenario of a homeowner in the Northwest Territories, the fact that if we look at that house we want to buy and we know it’s not going to fit our needs, we’re going to have to make some changes. Now, that unit, as it stood, may have a dollar figure attached, but if we’re going to expand it, build on it and strengthen it, we’re going to go to the bank, or in this case the federal government, to say we believe it should be done this way. In fact, this AIP identifies that and has gone a long way to reducing the caps that were initially identified. Again, as we talked about creating that legislation in designing what we would have as our northern piece, we would be able to build what we want in the North and we’ll have to use the budgets that we’ve negotiated. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The recent rejection of Canada’s bid for a temporary seat on the UN Security Council speaks volumes on the world’s verdict on Canada’s devotion to fundamental principles; tar sands to refusal for the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and so on. We could look to the IGR, the interim government response to the Joint Review Panel as to why Northerners might say no to the GNWT. So there’s still time to demonstrate responsible action here.

So my question -- Mr. Speaker, this may be the way the Government of Canada does business, but not us, hopefully -- before signing this AIP, will the Premier commit to refusing any devolution deal that does not meet this government’s commitments for inclusion of aboriginal peoples and commitment to economically, socially and environmentally sustainable development? Thank you.

What the Member is requesting of me is one that the Executive Council will have to wrestle with as we hear the response back from the joint letter that went out to the negotiators as we hear back from Members of the Legislative Assembly on a decision forward. The fact that this agreement-in-principle highlights the working relationship government to government, After this, if a future government is to say yes, this agreement, the final agreement is done, we’re going to accept it, what we need to do is decide how we’re really going to negotiate. What we’ve talked about for almost three decades is a plan to negotiate. This would bring us to actual negotiations and I think that at that point and what we have now offers the aboriginal groups the opportunity to continue working as we progress. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, was very interested in the news report this morning that saw a former Premier question the AIP and the way forward for this government. Mr. Speaker, it came across as being negative and blatantly self-serving, if I can say so. It got me to thinking that here’s a former Premier talking about a deal like this and where does that leave the public that’s out there in the Northwest Territories? What are they to believe? So I guess the first question I have, Mr. Speaker, is I’d like to ask the Premier how he is going to take this deal out to the people of the Northwest Territories to show them that it’s a good deal for the Government of the Northwest Territories and a good deal for the people of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, it is disappointing to have the media jump on this before we’ve had an opportunity as governments that are directly involved to allow the process to flow. We are in a process where we have to evaluate how we now inform the public, but again I go back to the fact that this agreement-in-principle is a starting point if we decide it needs to go forward. It is a starting point to a series of negotiations that then we will be able to get out to the public and let them know what is on the table and what we’re trying to do on that process. In the meantime, I’ve instructed the staff within the Executive to begin looking at our options of trying to get factual information out to the public and not just listen to the one-sided questions being put out there. Thank you.

I support the government, I support the Premier in their efforts, in his efforts to try to get signatories to that deal, to get it done for the people of the Northwest Territories. We need jobs, we need opportunities and we need some prosperity here in our Territory and I think this is a great way to kick-start that effort.

I’d like to ask the Premier, given the fact -- and I know, Mr. Speaker, you’ve cautioned some Members today about speaking about the specifics of the AIP -- I’m wondering if I could ask the Premier if his intention is to table that document in this House so that we can have a good, clear and frank discussion on its merits in Committee of the Whole? Thank you.

Although it’s put out in the public, it’s interesting, I believe, as it first went out, CBC said it’s out there, but it’s still a confidential document. I don’t know how they could put that disclaimer in there. We have a process and we’re trying to honour that process. There are other

partners involved in this and I want to respect them, being the aboriginal governments and the federal government. At some point we’ll have to make a decision on how we go forward. The typical process we’re involved in is laid out. It’s the normal practice. We’ll continue to use that.

I think the more important question becomes the time when an agreement, a final agreement is ready to be ratified. How then do you take it out and have that type of broad, overall debate?

I can recall in my previous years as a Member of the Legislative Assembly the Tlicho act that came forward establishing the self-government and our role in that. That’s when we had a debate in the House and motions were passed accepting that legislation. So I would see that being somewhat similar, when we actually have a document that we can ratify and decide if it’s good enough to move forward on. At this point we are trying to get to a place where we start a final set of negotiations. Thank you.

In an effort to kind of clear things up, the Premier was the former Finance Minister in the last government and much has been made of the deal in ‘07 and the new one that is before us, the AIP. Can the Premier just elaborate a little bit on why the deal in 2007 was not signed and was not ratified? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. That’s actually a question asking a question of the former government. I don’t know if the Premier wants to make any comment on it, but he doesn’t have to answer that one on an initiative of the former government. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can’t talk about what the result was or decisions made. All I can put out is the fact that in 2007 the Government of the Northwest Territories, along with four partners, signed an agreement, sent it in to Ottawa, and in fact I would say that the agreement that is before us today has improved upon that deal. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Your final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll try to stay away from numbers, but obviously when you’re looking at transferring, say, hundreds of jobs to the Northwest Territories, you’re going to have to negotiate a number. Obviously our negotiators aren’t going to be working with the federal government on some numbers that are woefully inadequate. I’d like to ask the Premier, on the ‘A’ Base, and that’s the funding for programs, how was the proposed number substantiated in the AIP?

That is a fair bit of detail that we’d go into, but the fact is we as a government have the work done to look at the delivery in today’s environment. Leading up to

2007, the government-of-the-day did that work. We also looked at that work and the consideration of what really needs to be done in the North was also put in place, a business case, and the negotiations around the AIP began in that manner. We have looked at those jobs. We have looked at what needs to be delivered and built the negotiation based on that. As I pointed out, the chief negotiators of both sides have signed a letter now, saying they’ve hit their mandates and it’s now time for a decision to be made.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.