The question, I think, could be phrased this way: how can the federal government not play a role? There are jurisdictions, some with competing interests, conflicting agendas. The federal government played a role when it was originally signed in 1997. It took a considerable number of years to get it to the signing point. It speaks to the issue of the need. It's not going to be easy. Water is a very difficult issue. Civilizations have risen and fallen on the issue of water. Wars have been fought. But the federal government has that ability and, I think, responsibility to bring us all back to the table.
We managed to have a meeting last July here in Edmonton. We wrote to the signatories--Alberta, British Columbia, and us--and we managed to get the ministers to the table. That's the first gathering since 1997. I've made the case to the Minister of the Environment as well as to the Minister of Indian Affairs that there's a need for the minister to call all the players together and put that document on the table. Let's talk about it. Let's dust it off and talk about how we can build off this document.
It's a different time, a different place. Enormous things have happened in the last dozen years. People are going to pay attention to that document. There's a need for us to recognize, collectively, that we have a huge vested interest, that our futures and fates are inextricably linked to the Mackenzie River Basin. And for the federal government in this jurisdiction, because it's the north where they have such responsibility, the responsibility is even greater.
So I've been pushing the federal, provincial, and territorial ministers, and I'm confident that within the next six months we will have the first-ever meeting of the Mackenzie River Basin signatories.