October 26, 2011 - “We have real challenges ahead of us.  We also have opportunities.We need strong minded leaders to address those challenges and aspire to great achievements.And finally, a call to the people of the Northwest Territories, we seek your guidance and advice as we move forward over the next four years. I ask you to get involved, ask for information, attend meetings and educate yourself about what your government is doing.  Talk to us about how well we are doing and let us know when we are not doing well." Premier Bob McLeod in his Candidacy Speech to the 17th Assembly, Thursday Oct. 26, 2011. 

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Colleagues, first allow me to congratulate each and every one of you on your election to the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories.

I stand before you today to seek your support as the 12th Premier of the Northwest Territories.

The road here is not always an easy one and I look forward to working with all of you in the years to come. The people of the Northwest Territories are relying on us to work together and we will not disappoint them

There are many important issues we need to discuss immediately to ensure each one of us has the opportunity to set the priorities of the 17th Assembly. We must seek to understand one another to achieve a strategic vision for the NWT.

Many of us heard the same issues from our constituents, the need for infrastructure investment, a strong economy, employment opportunities for northerners, a balanced approach to development, environmental stewardship, the need to address the cost of living in all communities, to address issues of poverty, housing and our most critical governance issue, devolution.

As Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Human Resources and Minister responsible for the Public Utilities Board in the 16th Assembly, I’ve had the privilege of working with many of you directly to complete a number of significant initiatives for our Territory.

Some of these initiatives include:

• Establishing a customer service focus for the delivery of Human Resources programs and services


• Focusing on energy initiatives through the Ministerial Energy Coordinating Committee to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels through renewable and alternative energy.

And perhaps the one initiative that best embodies our ability to work together is the electricity rate reforms that have lowered the cost of electricity and lowered the cost of living throughout the Northwest Territories.

We should all be very proud of our ability to work together on that strategy and fulfill our promise to reduce the cost of living in small communities.

If elected Premier I will continue to collaborate with you to fulfill the strategic goals of the 17th Assembly.

EDUCATION AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH

We should acknowledge the continuous improvements we’ve made in education and opportunities for our youth.

Over the past five years we’ve invested hundreds of millions of dollars in new schools and school-based community infrastructure, like gymnasiums that double as community facilities.

We’ve made these investments to ensure that all youth have the opportunity to get an education close to home. The next step for our young people is jobs.

The NWT Mine Training Society has successfully trained and placed more than 800 northerners in our mining sector. Over the next five years NWT’s mining industry will need 1,400 more employees.

Once the devolution agreement is successfully negotiated, many professional positions will be transferred from the Federal Government. We’ll be in a position to offer some of those jobs to young, NWT graduates.

Many workers will be in demand and we must continue to prepare our young people for employment opportunities.

Working together the 17th Legislative Assembly can continue to support our youth and help develop the next generation of NWT leaders.

Devolution

The most critical governance issue facing the 17th Assembly is devolution.

In my view, we should start thinking about this initiative as “evolution” not “devolution”. It’s the next logical step in the “evolution” of our territory and the “evolution” of our place in Confederation

Our task will be to gain control of subsurface rights for the people of the north so that we can better manage the pace and conditions of development and, to the extent we do so wisely, enjoy the benefits of that development.

For too long we as a government have borne the responsibilities of government without its full benefits – without the revenues needed to maintain our territory and support our people.

I believe that the Agreement in Principle offers many benefits:

•  $85 million annually for 350 jobs transferred from the Federal to the Territorial Government.


• The AIP also grandfathers environmental liabilities that will be borne by the Federal Government. We will not be liable for the $100’s of millions of dollars of mitigation that must take place.


•  $50 to $60 million annually in additional financial transfers.

These transfers represent new employment opportunities in the NWT and will relieve pressure on the debt cap that may limit our ability to forge ahead with new capital projects

We will seek to share this new revenue with Aboriginal governments throughout the NWT and we must work with them. Together we will find a way to make this happen.

I have a track record of successful collaboration and
I will seek to work with Aboriginal governments to determine how best to share the revenues and the new responsibilities we gain back from Ottawa in a way that builds on our individual strengths while not further splintering our already limited capacity.

I ask all Aboriginal leaders to enter into these discussions with a clear understanding that we are all stronger together than we are apart.

At this time perhaps more than any other in the history of the Northwest Territories we have the opportunity to guarantee the future health and prosperity of northerners. With devolution we will see the control of our land and water in the hands of northerners where it belongs. We need the opportunity to invest in our people, to put funding in community programs that will best support residents and to allow us the opportunity to invest in the long term needs of this Territory.

Devolution is evolution Mr. Chair; it is the natural change and growth that this Territory needs.

To critics on the sidelines who say it can’t be done - I say it must be done. We must acquire full decision-making rights over our future or be subject to a distant master with other priorities.

Working together the 17th Legislative Assembly can secure the future of the NWT.

A STRONG NORTH THROUGH A STRONG ECONOMY

While the discussions about devolution will take our time and energy we must also consider how we will bring renewed focus to the economy. We often talk about the vast potential of resources in the NWT and there is probably no disagreement among Members of this House that there is indeed vast potential.

The question we must ask ourselves is what do we believe must happen with those resources. Let’s find an answer to that question, an answer that considers that we must create employment, we must seek to control the cost of living, we must invest in cleaner energy solutions and we must remain vigilant in the sustainable use of our land and water.

There is a need for an economic strategy responsive to changing economic conditions which will be critical to our ability to invest in and stabilize the northern economy. I have heard calls for a resource development strategy, I have heard concerns about exploration investment declining in the NWT and I have heard the calls for increased environmental stewardship.

My response is simple, we must take a balanced approach. And not a high wire balancing act where the impacts of a development could be catastrophic, but a solid balanced approach that allows economic growth, employment for northerners and conservation of our land.

As many of you know we have opportunities in other sectors including manufacturing, agriculture and tourism. I am particularly excited by the vast potential for diversifying community economies, providing employment and highlighting aspects of Aboriginal culture and languages that the tourism sector offers.

The NWT is not immune from the volatility of the global economy and now more than ever our fiscal situation requires that we quickly agree how this government will continue to provide the level of service that our constituents have come to expect. I won’t sugar coat this, we are in a tough situation.

Without increased revenues we will have to decrease our spending. However, if we are able to act quickly and come together on the Devolution file I believe we may be able to stabilize our fiscal situation and minimize impacts on residents of the NWT. There will be some short term fiscal challenges we must address but I believe we can do that in a responsible and considered way.

We also need to undertake a focused initiative to convince the Government of Canada to increase the Federal Northern Resident Income Tax Deduction. As northerners we are entitled to a standard of living similar to southern Canadians and we should not be unfairly penalized for choosing to live in the NWT. We need discussion about the impact of taxes on the cost of living.

Our economy is a small one but one that directly impacts the lives of notherners. It is an economy, I believe as Premier, I could help lead into better times for all of us by working to expand each of its many elements.

During my four years as Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment I have made valuable inroads with industry leaders and decision makers. I would, as Premier, get to know them even better and work with their representatives to build a strong northern economy.

As we were told by the National Energy Board in its written Decision into the Mackenzie Gas Project, “It takes a good economy to take care of the land and the people.”

In addition to growing our economy, we must strive to keep more of its benefits here in the north. Resource revenues do us no good when they flow to Ottawa while we bear the costs of the development activity.

Our people want and need to know that prosperity, jobs and property values are secure for the long-term. I want that too.

Our diamond mines have been the engines of prosperity for a decade. They will begin to wind down over the next 8 to 10 years.

We must work together to ensure other environmentally sustainable resource projects have the ability to fill the economic void.

The Conference Board of Canada has identified eight new mine projects that will come on stream over the next 10 years.

To make them a reality and secure a prosperous future we must clear a path for them to proceed.

I say that if our neighbors to the east and west are able to streamline regulatory processes without giving up control, then we can too.

Devolution will put more of that oversight in our hands and enable us to move regulatory reform forward so that investors can return to the Northwest Territories with certainty and our people can look ahead with confidence.

Working together the 17th Legislative Assembly can ensure “future prosperity” for the NWT.

CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

We cannot talk about the economy without talking about critical infrastructure. Over the past several years we have invested heavily in education, community facilities and airports; these are investments in the future of our people.

Over the next several years we need to invest in projects like the Tuktoyaktuk- Inuvik highway and the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline. These projects have the support of the Federal government and we need to work together to push both of these projects to the finish line. In my view, other projects like the Mackenzie Fibre Optic Corridor and the Mackenzie Highway need to get off the drawing board.

We can’t afford to do everything at once, but if we work together we can build critical infrastructure that binds our territory and our people together in a way that’s never before happened in our history.

Greater infrastructure will be key to reducing our cost of living. It’s time to get down to work on the critical infrastructure that will support our long-term prosperity.

Environmental Stewardship

As northerners we have a unique and deep connection with the land. The land and environment is a constant presence in our lives. I believe that to protect the land, water and wildlife is to respect land, water and wildlife. By respecting our vast and spectacular wilderness we are able to ensure that we use the resources wisely that have been provided to us. As I said earlier, there is no room for an uninformed approach to development, we must consider all factors, and ensure we take a balanced sustainable approach.

We can do that through many initiatives including ongoing investment and increased focus on developing alternative energy sources, if we are to protect and respect this land, we must move away from our dependence on fossil fuels. The costs of not investing in alternative energy sources are just too high for future generations to bear.

Working together the 17th Assembly can ensure a balanced and sustainable approach that secures a healthy environment for future generations.

Seniors and Elders

As northerners we enjoy the lifestyle and much of our current prosperity because those before us paved the way. I’m talking about our Elders and our senior citizens. They represent a segment of our society that has earned our support.

I know that many of them are concerned with the continuum of care, supplemental health benefits and future availability of seniors housing.

As we age our care needs become more complex. We don’t have the resources to fully implement an end-to-end continuum of care immediatley but we can continue to bridge the gaps one step at a time.

Supplemental health benefits shouldn’t be an issue for our seniors and Elders.

Working together, the 17th Assembly can help ensure our senior and Elders are taken care of.

Social Agenda

Many people in communities across the NWT continue to struggle with maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Substance abuse, mental health and addictions are eroding the fabric of families and communities. We need to address issues of wellness, poverty and addictions.

This is not something this government can do alone and today I am calling on the Members of this House to seek alternative solutions to addressing issues of poverty and wellness in our Territory. As Premier I would want to see this Government seek the counsel of Elders, youth, Aboriginal governments and social agencies to develop a strategy that will help us address root causes of poverty. This includes:
homelessness; a review of income support and identifying ways to provide individual support closer to home.

I believe strongly that a poverty reduction strategy needs to link closely to the economic development and resource development strategy I spoke about earlier.

I believe we must address issues of addictions at the same time as we are seeking to keep our homes and communities safe. The police play a significant role in ensuring public safety and I will continue to advocate for resources and support that allows the RCMP to focus on community based policing.

Health Care System

Our health care system is one of the best in Canada. But the system is under pressure. That is why I believe we must continue with the vision laid out in the Building on Our Foundation strategic plan that includes the high level reform initiatives we must address to ensure the long term health and well being of our residents.

This along with renegotiations of critical health care funding agreements with the Federal government will ensure the 17th Assembly maintains a strong commitment to a high quality and responsive health care system for our residents.

THE ROAD AHEAD

There’s important work to do in the 17th Legislative Assembly.

We must seize opportunities, resolve issues and get the job done!

There’s only one way we will succeed. And that way is through collaboration built on a foundation of trust that’s been forged in long-term relationships.

I was raised in a small NWT community and have stayed in touch with my roots. As a civil servant I worked through many important processes with our Aboriginal Leaders, past and present.

The greatest attribute I can bring to negotiations with our Aboriginal Leaders is trust…trust that’s built on many years of working together.

Federal relationships are no less complex. I have the ability to communicate effectively and develop relationships with all levels of Government.

These relationships and my understanding of the Federal arena are assets that I will put to work if given the honour of becoming your Premier.

My personal style is to be inclusive. To be open to new ideas. Your ideas.

And to work in a transparent way to bring your energy, commitment and ideas into real benefits for the people we represent.

We have real challenges ahead of us. We also have opportunities.

We need strong minded leaders to address those challenges and aspire to great achievements.

And finally, a call to the people of the Northwest Territories, we seek your guidance and advice as we move forward over the next four years. I ask you to get involved, ask for information, attend meetings and educate yourself about what your government is doing. Talk to us about how well we are doing and let us know when we are not doing well.

To Members of this House, I ask for your vote…not as the Premier OF the Northwest Territories but as Premier FOR the Northwest Territories. We are all in this together. And together we will always find a way.
Thank you.