Madam Speaker, while I can appreciate that the member has never been in the north, he seems to say quite a bit about this legislation, which has been worked on for many years. Some of the work started during the days when the Conservative government was in power. Therefore, a lot of the pieces in the bill were started many years ago.
I have been hearing quite a bit from the indigenous governments in my riding. They want the bill to move forward. I have also been contacted, probably on a monthly basis, by the Government of the Northwest Territories. The premier's office is saying that it wants it to move forward. We need the bill to move forward so we can get on with dealing with the issues challenging us in the Northwest Territories, especially in the area of devolution.
The indigenous governments and the Northwest Territories are in a position to negotiate land claims and issues of compensation. It is also moving forward on discussions of self-government. It is able to share in resource royalties. It holds 50% of the seats in the regulatory process. That will also help it move forward on many of the areas that were left hanging from the time the last government was in place.
I want to ask the member this. Could he tell me why he will not support the bill? It supports decision-making being done in the north and he has raised that as an issue. Will he support the bill since it would help the people in the north and the indigenous governments make the decisions that impact them in the Northwest Territories?