Bob McLeod

Thank you, Madam Chair. We’d be pleased to make sure that the public is aware of what we are doing so that they will have adequate time for input.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’ve always said from the start of this process that we will devolve and evolve, and I think I’ve indicated to the Member several times now that we can start evolving as of April 1st, and if that’s following due process that we can make those changes.

I’ve already committed to working with committee and with participating Aboriginal government partners and whomever else that committee would see fit to involve in the review process, and I committed that we could start soon, as of April 1st, and we would develop a process and a plan that would be acceptable to all parties.

What we all agreed to was following the mirroring principles that have been in place and have been followed. There are precedents and also we’ve adhered to the mirroring principles. So through you, Madam Chair, I’ll ask Jamie Fulford to go into those details. Thank you, Madam Chair.

For the bills that are passed and given assent to by this government, this government has the authority to deal with them like any other legislation. Obviously, our expectation is that we should at least let them run, have us implement them so that we can get them going. We said we always want a seamless transition, and we recognize that we have some very important responsibilities so that we have to work with the people and also with the third parties and the other Aboriginal governments that are out there so that we can have some certainty and we can have some due process. But the way this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The honourable Member will be very pleased to know that we’ve already started that process. We have started a process of informing the public, educating the public with a media blitz whereby we are putting inserts about devolution in the media outlets, and as we go forward, once we know devolution will, in fact, happen on April 1st, we will expand that so that we can have more interaction with the general public.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 17, Northwest Territories Intergovernmental Agreement on Resource Revenue Sharing Agreement Act, be read for the second time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill provides for the sharing of the net fiscal benefit in accordance with the Northwest Territories Intergovernmental Resource Revenue Sharing Agreement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 69(2) and have Bill 15, Oil and Gas Operations Act, moved into Committee of the Whole. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Unanimous consent granted

We will find a way to get input from people that have large amounts of land that have some information to contribute.

Obviously, there’s more than just this Legislative Assembly. For example, Yellowknife has seven MLAs that people in Yellowknife can just phone and walk to their MLAs’ doors and provide input. We also have other avenues. We have committee meetings. We have departments where we consult, and then we consult and we consult on every imaginable kind of policy, and we seek input and then we go back and go back to the committees for their input and then, as a government, we take a position or develop a policy and then we would work with our Aboriginal governments on the Intergovernmental Council for...