Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m proud that this discussion, in my view a decision, is before the House. As I said back in March of this year and as I’ve said many times over the years, home rule is finally coming home to where it belongs: to the people of the Northwest Territories. We’re in a position to chart our own destiny. We’re in the position, if not the driver’s seat, to make our own choices. And remember, sometimes when you’re in charge, you do make mistakes. So I don’t expect things to be perfect, but the exciting thing about being in charge is the people of the Northwest Territories are in charge, in partnership with their Aboriginal governments. So in other words, the people of the Northwest Territories are in charge of our future.

As I said back in March at great length, although I won’t repeat it, Frederick Haultain, our first Premier back on October 7, 1897, had been fighting for a true Northwest Territories. He saw a vision of a big Northwest Territories all across Canada, which would have been, of course, Alberta, Saskatchewan and part of Manitoba. Well, that dream never happened. The Northwest Territories lost its authority back in 1905. So when this

devolution deal gets implemented next year, it will be 109 years since the Northwest Territories has been trying to join the mosaic of Canada, over a century since we wanted to be back at the table and are finally allowed to be back at the table.

We rightly belong in the driver’s seat of our territory. We rightly belong enjoying the partnership of our Aboriginal governments. We have five of seven, as you’ve heard repeatedly here today. I look forward to hearing we have seven out of seven and I’m sure that day is coming soon.

Why do people want to be in charge? Because they believe we have reached the time. Time could not be better. Our future is promising. We cannot miss this opportunity.

Devolution never snuck up on this government. We didn’t go to work one day last week and all of a sudden a deal was there. Many people deserve a lot of credit for the hard work that has been brought forward today. A lot of people have dreamt of this, and as mentioned by other Members, a lot of them have always supported devolution. Even those who are concerned about it support devolution in some form.

The mosaic, as I’ve said, of Canada is a beautiful one. I think it’s now time that they let us sit at the table and share and learn about the way the people in the Northwest Territories do government, we do business. We don’t just do it willy-nilly. We don’t just do it in an autocratic form. We do it in partnership. Every day we tread forward we make new tracks, methods and ways that people have never seen before. As I said, will it be perfect? No, it will not, but Ottawa is finally relinquishing some control and we are accepting it, but in the form of partnership and opportunity.

I have heard this before that the public relations portion of this is the deal, take it or leave it, may have been phrased slightly better. I wouldn’t disagree with anybody who has made that problem. Yes, we probably could have run a better public relations campaign. Yes, the statement in the House may have been a little gentler by the Premier at the time. Yes, those who heard it may have been given the chance in the method of saying, wait a minute, this is the deal that people have been working on, either take it or leave it. I don’t think it was meant in a mean form, but public relations on this deal probably could have been a little better.

I would say the Premier has met his effort by reaching out. He’s sent teams of individuals, experts, knowledgeable people. He’s gone to so many communities, there have been so many public meetings, there have been unprecedented opportunities to draw out this type of information. Never before in my experience in 10 years of being in the Legislature, never before in anyone’s

experience have we seen anyone go to such lengths to reach out to talk to people and try.

The naysayers will always find fault. They will always say we didn’t try hard enough. Could we have gone to every single door? Obviously, that’s impossible, but I would say that the Premier, in my view, has met the goal of trying to get out and show Northerners if you’ve got questions, he’s got answers. They may not be the answers everyone wants to hear, they may not be the answers they need to hear, but the fact is that open door, the reaching out, the effort has been made. It’s been a relentless struggle, it’s been a relentless fight, and I think the people involved in that struggle and that fight to get the message out certainly deserve a great pat on the back from all of our people in this Assembly.

A lot of people said they don’t like the deal. A lot of people said that they felt that the details of the deal came late. Mr. Speaker, 43,000 people can’t have their hand on that pen. No negotiations of this form are ever done entirely in public. It’s when the deal has reached the point where everyone has accepted this is what we can get, and that’s what happened in this case.

I hope that in time we will all be working together and I know the challenges before us are many. One of the challenges before us – and it should never be lost upon us – is how we work together in the future. We have many chapters in the devolution deal. We have many focuses when you hear Aboriginal people talk about how their government will work with our government. There is no simple answer.

I’ve always said someday the true Northwest Territories evolves into a constitutional development, has a Senate that oversees the work of the public government, works in partnership with the Aboriginal governments and we all work together. Is that the right model? I don’t know, but I look forward to that discussion.

The race is off and running. I’ve heard the starter pistol go. We’re on our way. We’re in the game not unlike ever before. Will the day after look any different? Other than a bit of letterhead, probably not. Deals will continue, processes will continue, stewardship will continue, people will continue.

I don’t think that anything’s going to change in the context of yes, hardworking Northerners will be working at home with their northern partners and their northern colleagues, all under a banner of northern people.

When Health and Transportation came over, there was not a public outcry about saying, well, you didn’t tell us. Now, that’s not necessarily a fair comparison, I realize that. But it’s time the Government of the Northwest Territories starts

taking charge of its own destiny. We have evolved in maturity. The future truly belongs to us.

As I said earlier, this devolution deal didn’t sneak up on us, but in 2007, I remember the elected Assembly came to work here, and they said devolution is off the table. It isn’t going to happen. But it’s funny, when people get working together with a common interest in saying how can we find a way, we can find a way, let’s find a way. It did find a way. The turn of events, as I pointed out, didn’t just happen overnight, but perhaps one could say in a serendipity type of way, the stars finally started to align.

As the future now is before us, in many ways it’s a blank page. The narrative is ours to write. It’s ours to hold. It’s ours to embrace. It’s for our children and it’s for their children. There will always be unknowns, and everyone will know that there will be tough days ahead of us. Today is one of those days. April of next year will be yet another day, and there will be many days when we say maybe we shouldn’t have done this. But I think, and I can guarantee, that there will be many days ahead of us that we’ll be saying thank goodness we took that extra step. Thank goodness we were willing to put it on the line. Thank goodness we empowered our negotiators to get the best deal they can.

Now, you’ll hear, as my colleagues have stated, that my goodness, we didn’t get Norman Wells. Well, I don’t know if we’re going to ever get everything we want. I mean, ask any other province across Canada. Did they get everything they want? I mean, it’s part of the process. But did we get what we hoped we could? I think we did.

As spoken earlier, even the Yukon is now glaring at our deal, thinking we must have done something right, and that alone should be asking ourselves are we doing something right. I think, yes, we are, because of that. There are many indicators of this.

The sky will not fall on implementation day. People will be working hard, and I know they will. But I believe Northerners who are doing the jobs right now, who are taking care of certain stewardship that will be transferred over, will continue the fine, exemplary work that they are doing today, and I think no less of them today and worry in any fashion, and I know they will contribute just as hard to the northern destiny, to the northern fabric before us.

Devolution doesn’t end anything. It begins everything.

I’ve heard my colleagues, and I agree, there is much concern about contaminated sites. It was a chapter that didn’t quite move forward on this initiative. The feds are choosing to keep it under them. Many people are worried, and frankly, I think that their concerns are correct. Do we need to ensure that stewardship is kept high and

implementation and concern of those are always on the front burner of every issue? I agree. But it doesn’t mean any less of a job is going to happen tomorrow. The feds, in time, will continue to take care of those issues, and when the day is right, we will decide when they are part of our issues.

Now, as I said earlier, there’s much work to be done, but I’m thankful for the compromise that many of our partners have finally done and agreed, and they have all joined to come forward with us on this journey. I look forward to next April when we can say today our destiny truly is ours.

Now, to close off this, I want to say that there has been great concern about the regulatory process. At this time, I don’t believe that this is a particular issue. I believe the work that is being done by the federal folks will continue. I believe our environment folks will continue to do good work. And I think any criticism of that is individual criticism, because of this government, of them as Northerners, of those people who you say won’t do as much of a good job. As I said earlier, I believe that their skills and abilities will continue in partnership with us all and we will all continue to proceed with great pride.

If you haven’t noticed, I guess I will be voting in favour of devolution, in case there is any question. This is a unique time. Whether people realize it or not, it may just seem like a page in Hansard, but today is a unique time in the world we will all look back and all ask ourselves, where were you on that day? Today is a special time for all of us. For that, I am going to say, once again, I will be voting for devolution and I’m awfully proud to be part of the group that saw this through. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.