Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to make a few comments on this issue. As I understand it, it was put on the agenda with the suggestion that there be a ninth Minister. I would really like to hear from those Members who are willing to fight hard for that idea.

Like the two previous Speakers, I have serious concerns about the cost of the ninth Minister, especially in this day and age when we are faced with impending cutbacks and a serious deficit situation. My view is that the ninth seat was put forward, as I understand it, because there is concern that in the last Assembly the workload was not divided evenly and some Ministers were overworked. I think partly this concern can be addressed by the new Premier, whoever that may be, by ensuring that the portfolios and the workload is divided evenly. Once we get into questions for the Premier candidates, those are some questions we can ask.

I am very concerned also that creating a ninth seat will be like the new Assembly creating a new job for ourselves. As I said, I would like to hear arguments for the ninth seat and hear exactly why it is we need the ninth seat. I have heard the cost of a new Minister may be upwards of $200,000 to $250,000 a year, including the salaries, travel money, staff and all the other costs that go with it. By the end of our term, this new Minister may cost the government an extra $1 million. That, to me, is unconscionable when we may be asking the regions to lower the student/teacher ratios perhaps, or asking the health centres to buy less equipment, or when we are telling our people that we can't afford to build any new houses.

I would like to be as open as possible with new ideas, so if I am convinced that we do need this seat, the costs should be in-house, as Mr. Ningark said. It should be paid for perhaps by cutting MLAs' salaries, cutting salaries of Cabinet Ministers or reducing our travel budgets. I can't see that happening because of the workload over the next few years leading up to division. So if we really do need it, I can't see putting any new money into it. That is all.