Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to add a few words, as well, to this debate.

For 46 years and 17 Assemblies we have been working together on a foundation of very, very fundamental principles, the protection in accordance to the land, the water and the animals. We need to work together, Aboriginal governments and public government. Our common desire to control our own fate is to eventually achieve self-government.

Every Legislative Assembly has built off the work of the previous Assembly, and this 17th Assembly is

no different. We stand on the work of 16 previous Assemblies, and I would say, without any hesitation or equivocation, there should be no doubt, in this Assembly or in the public that are listening to this debate, that any one of us MLAs cares any less about the land, the water, the animals, sustainable development or the question or Northerners to finally control their own destiny. That’s not the debate here today.

I would suggest to you that what we should be talking about and what the focus is, is this motion, as it is worded, appropriate at this particular time. I would suggest to you that it’s not. We have many other issues at play and the motion itself tries to address a whole host of issues. It is clear from the debate and those who are supporting this bill that there is strong unhappiness with the federal government in the bills they’ve passed. Be that as it may, our job as a government, as the Premier has said, is to manage our way through this. The recommendation and the therefores that speak to the territorial government are not clear and they are not especially helpful. Tell them we are unhappy and, oh, yes, we want more money.

We are within a hair’s breadth of devolution, resource revenue sharing, $65 million; A-based transfers, another $65 million – the culmination of a dream to control the levers of our destiny. We have to focus on those things. The work we do in the environment in this territory, I would hold up for comparison to any other jurisdiction in this country. In fact, I would submit to you, that in spite of the burdens of some of the regulatory millstones we have to carry that are not ours and that we are soon

going to be rid of, is the fact that we have done enormously good work. We are going to negotiate an orderly transfer with the federal government. We are doing work on water, wildlife. We have been preparing ourselves for decades for this time and we are just about there.

This motion, as it is worded, is not particularly helpful. It gives voice to the unhappiness with what the federal government has done, but we are legislators. We have to take the broad view. We know that we can balance resource development and the environment. We know that we can do a better job as Northerners and has ever been done before. We will do that and we will demonstrate that. We have demonstrated it in a whole host of other areas.

We know that in our small communities, there are enormous employment challenges, challenges with cost of living. Those are things that are driving MLAs every day. Let us not lose track of that.

Forty-six years, we are just about there. We have to manage our way through this. This is similar to global warming and climate change. There are things happening to us that we didn’t necessarily initiate or that we don’t control. But as we have done time after time as a government and as a territory, we will manage our way through this. As we sign those agreements, we will be better off tomorrow than we ever were today or in the past.

There should be no concern about people’s commitment to the environment here. All we are talking about is this motion is not the time and there hasn’t been the time for the discussion to have it thoughtfully fully worded out address the concerns of all the Members and be put forward in a more constructive way. That is not how we do business in a consensus government.

I, as well as Cabinet, as the Premier indicated, will be voting against this motion. Let us not lose track of all the things that we have in common and there should be nobody leaving here today thinking that somehow those that voted against or for or abstained are any less concerned about the North, the land, the water, the animals, how do we have a productive life for our people. Thank you.