Joe Handley

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are two main actions which we are taking. As the Member knows, the Prime Minister has committed that we should be the primary beneficiaries and, following that, there has been the two reports on fiscal imbalance; both of them sided with our government. Following that, Minister Flaherty has indicated that he’s meeting with the Finance Ministers in December and at that time it is expected that he will be putting forward a proposal on territorial formula financing. So, Mr. Speaker, that will be the first action on that front.

Mr. Speaker, the other one has to do...

Mr. Speaker, yes, in the last year and a half we have had regular meetings with myself and the regional leaders, the grand chiefs, the presidents and so on. Mr. Speaker, the last meeting we had was, I believe, in about June or so. At that meeting, the leaders agreed that they wanted to meet to decide who their membership was before we would get together again, and that meeting has been postponed a couple of times and I understand it’s now going to be held in November. So following that, I will have another meeting with the regional leaders as a team if they choose to do that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As Mrs. Groenewegen has said, those were speculation. I was having a discussion with the reporter by telephone and he was asking me questions, I was speculating on answers, Mr. Speaker. So they were very much, as I say, speculation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said, I will provide the evidence that I have in terms of the questions that we have put forward, the commitments made by the federal government and I will provide that to all of the Members. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to recognize Chief Peter Liske and former chief, Rick Edjericon, from the Yellowknives Dene First Nation and also I see one of my constituents, Aggie Brockman, here as well and other constituents. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On June 21st, the people across the Northwest Territories will once again be celebrating National Aboriginal Day. This year marks the 10th anniversary of National Aboriginal Day celebrations in Canada. It is also the fifth anniversary of the National Aboriginal Day Act, which made the Northwest Territories the first and only jurisdiction in Canada to recognize the day as a formal statutory holiday.

---Applause

Mr. Speaker, this is important to me as Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations and as Premier because it demonstrates how strongly we feel...

Mr. Speaker, in recent months we have seen energy prices reach record levels. The continued high demand for energy resources in growing economies such as India and China will likely mean energy prices will remain high for the foreseeable future.

As a result of these worldwide pressures on energy supply and costs, it is imperative that the Northwest Territories address our own energy usage and underlying cause of increased energy costs. In the short term, this means we must do more to reduce consumption and increase energy efficiency. We must also recognize our longer-term goal of identifying...

Mr. Speaker, in recent months we have seen energy prices reach record levels. The continued high demand for energy resources in growing economies such as India and China will likely mean energy prices will remain high for the foreseeable future.

As a result of these worldwide pressures on energy supply and costs, it is imperative that the Northwest Territories address our own energy usage and underlying cause of increased energy costs. In the short term, this means we must do more to reduce consumption and increase energy efficiency. We must also recognize our longer-term goal of identifying...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On June 21st, the people across the Northwest Territories will once again be celebrating National Aboriginal Day. This year marks the 10th anniversary of National Aboriginal Day celebrations in Canada. It is also the fifth anniversary of the National Aboriginal Day Act, which made the Northwest Territories the first and only jurisdiction in Canada to recognize the day as a formal statutory holiday.

---Applause

Mr. Speaker, this is important to me as Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Intergovernmental Relations and as Premier because it demonstrates how strongly we feel...

Mr. Speaker, I am meeting on at least three occasions with the other Premiers across Canada over the next three months or so. During that time I will raise this one again, but I must say that we have talked about it and we do want to move aggressively in getting the federal government to respond to the expert panel reports that have been out and ask them to deal with that quickly. We are looking at trying to resolve that one by this fall and hopefully then have a better idea of what kind of breaks we can afford to give to our residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.