"If Minister Stewart doesn't have time to work with us to develop sustainable industries, then it is time that DIAND be split, with Northern development made into its own portfolio," Ootes told the territorial legislature Wednesday.

"If Jane Stewart isn't prepared to give us that attention, Ottawa should give us someone who will," he added.

All three Yellowknife MLAs have criticized the department for its lack of response to the layoffs and shutdowns at the North's gold mines caused by falling gold prices.

Seamus Henry, Roy Erasmus and Ootes have pointed out that the federal government's response to a mining downturn in Ontario in the 1980s and the collapse of the Atlantic fisheries in the 1990s was measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

But when Ootes asked Premier Don Morin Wednesday to ask Stewart to attend to development issues, Morin indicated he is focusing on relieving DIAND of responsibility for Northern development, not reconfiguring it.

"We are working on a common goal to make Northerners responsible for Northern resources," said Morin.

Morin noted the Western Canadian provinces have indicated they support the NWT's drive for provincial powers.

The premier said that within a month he hopes to be formalizing that support with Alberta in the form of a memorandum of understanding.