Thank you.
I'd like to thank the standing committee for the opportunity to meet with you as part of your deliberations on Bill C–530, a private member's bill that would amend the Northwest Territories Act with respect to the Government of the Northwest Territories' authority to borrow.
Under the NWT act, the Government of the NWT, or the GNWT, has virtually all the program responsibilities and taxation powers of a province, with the important exception of the management of our lands and resources and the ability to levy and collect royalties on the development of those resources.
The signing of the devolution agreement in principle this past January is a critical step toward our government's assuming that province-like authority. One other significant anomaly in our government's authority is the inability—