Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his indication of support for this important legislation. He is well aware of the need for this to go ahead not only for the monetary interest but more importantly, for the development of the eventual self-government package that will accompany it.
The new relationship document that we signed last year deals with things like mediation and arbitration. We have already appointed negotiators to talk about the governance package, which is the next step, and those negotiators have already started discussions. We will be able to move very quickly.
These are not just words on a document. This new relationship document is significant and very real. This new relationship will allow us to move to serious negotiations quickly.
Agreements were signed in the early days without implementation packages, which, in hindsight, was a tremendous flaw. Under this new relationship agreement that we have signed, everyone understands the importance of getting to a settlement quickly and addressing these outstanding issues quickly. There are timelines in the government's package, for example, on how quickly we can get to it. We are committed to meeting those deadlines.
Most important, because of the relationship we have established in getting to this stage, I expect these negotiations will go very well.