Thank you, Mr. Chairman. At this time, I would like to congratulate you on your election as our Speaker. My view with regard to this subject matter is I do not support the ninth Cabinet Minister based on the existing financial problems we are presently under with regard to the deficit.

I have seen how the government has amalgamated departments to downsize the previous structure. We had 17 departments and now we are down to 11. If we are talking about eight Cabinet Ministers, I believe that by allocating portfolios based on that number, that workload should be workable with the existing structure.

The other argument I have is during the campaign, there was a lot of people out there who are hurting, especially from the Mackenzie Delta, where we have a very serious social problem with regard to the unemployment. The economics of the region isn't there. We don't have an industry like we had in the past such as the oil and gas industry or mining.

I also believe with the deficit, we are going to have to make some major cuts in other areas and will have to look at all the areas in government such as the Legislature, government bureaucracy and the cost of administering the government to the people. We have to set an example. We need to look at the existing resources we have and I don't see that we have it within the budget. So, at this time, I would like to state that I do not support the ninth seat for Cabinet. Thank you.