April 10, 2014 – Thank you, I’m pleased to be here this evening. Before I begin, I’d like to recognize the new board and congratulate them on their election earlier today. Your members have chosen an excellent group of leaders to help promote and encourage business across the North.
I won’t speak too long tonight. I am looking forward to the one-on-one conversation with John Curran shortly. I think it is an interesting format that will give us the chance to explore many of the issues you want to hear about.
A little over a week ago, the Northwest Territories underwent one of the most significant steps in its political evolution in decades. The devolution of responsibility for public lands, resources and water had been a priority of the Government and Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories for many years. I’m proud to say that I was part of the 17th Legislative Assembly that made it a reality.
Making devolution a reality was a joint effort that took the work and partnership of many people and organizations, including the NWT Chamber of Commerce and its members. We appreciated your support and input throughout the process and I want to thank you for it.
I have said many times that the North is the future of Canada, that this century belongs to us. Canada’s relative economic performance has been the envy of the industrialized world for the past five years. What has been the basis – the foundation – of that strength? Natural resources. In particular, energy and minerals, something we have in abundance.
We have the resources the world wants and needs to fuel economic growth and prosperity. We have diamonds, gold, silver and rare earth metals. We have world-class energy reserves in the Beaufort Sea, the Mackenzie Delta, Sahtu and Dehcho. We have hydro potential that could provide inexpensive, renewable energy to business and industry here in the Northwest Territories and – potentially – outside our borders.
Transforming that potential into prosperity for Northwest Territories residents and businesses has been, and will continue to be, a major focus for this government. Gaining northern decision making authority over northern land, resources and waters will allow us to achieve this goal.
Northerners know this land and its resources best and want to enjoy the benefits of responsible balanced development. We don’t want to see growth stifled and are tired of seeing our resources stranded. We want to put people to work and support the growth of a strong, diversified economy. Letting the people who live here and who stand to benefit make the decisions is one of the best ways to meet this goal. With new powers and new resources flowing from devolution we will be better placed than ever to support the long term economic growth and health of the territory. It also means that our government has the tools it needs to better manage the environment, ensuring that development decisions reflect northern priorities and values.
For the business community, devolution means working with a local, more responsive government. It means a shared commitment to responsible development that creates local and territorial benefits and opportunities. It means faster decision making by people who know and understand the issues at play in our unique part of the world.
It is probably still too early to see all of the benefits that a more locally-based decision making process will bring. We did a lot of planning and preparing for devolution and have successfully managed the smooth transition of responsibilities. But, as reflected in the theme of your conference, this is only the beginning.
You have heard me say many times that our government’s plan is to devolve and evolve. Planning can take you a long way, but there are some things you can only learn by experience. We have only started learning the lessons that will come from the hands-on management of the programs and services we recently assumed. Our practical knowledge and understanding of our new responsibilities will grow over time and will help drive the evolution that I have spoken about.
One of the things we – and you – will have to learn is how to manage the relationship between government and industry. For many years the Government of the Northwest Territories has been an active and visible promoter of development in our territory. That has often included lending our voices in support of particular projects that we believed to be of potential benefit to the territory and its people.
That was an appropriate role for a government that did not carry the responsibility of decision making and regulatory authority. With devolution, our responsibilities have changed and so has our duty to the people of the Northwest Territories. As decision makers, we are now the stewards of the land and its resources, called upon to uphold the public interest in the development decisions we will be making. We have to respect that new role and ensure all our decisions are fair and unbiased and that the public has confidence in that fact.
That may mean some changes to how we do things together, but we continue to support responsible balanced development any less. We understand that resource development will continue to be a major component of our GDP and we will continue to support and encourage it and all sectors of our economy. Devolution was all about creating a positive environment for responsible balanced development that respects our land and environment and creates new benefits and opportunities for our people.
Devolution has been a long time coming and there have been challenges and difficulties along the way. But we kept the faith, convinced that bringing decision making authority home was critical for the future of this territory. I’m pleased to say that we and our partners overcame those challenges together and devolution is here. Our future is bright and the opportunities for all of us to succeed are almost boundless. I look forward to working with you and all our partners to make this the kind of prosperous, sustainable territory that we have always known it can be.