Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would also like to congratulate you on your acclamation as Speaker.

I also cannot support this suggestion at this time. But having said that, I have to admit that there is a lot of stress on the Ministers because I have seen the Ministers drop like flies in the past. I know the workload is tremendous. I have often tried to reach Ministers at home at 7:30 in the morning before they went to work and they were already gone to breakfast meetings.

I also know the stress and the hardship caused by travel. In my past job, I did a lot of travelling and it was very hard on my wife and children. I can only imagine how difficult it is for the people who have had to move to Yellowknife to work here and leaving their families at home. It must be tremendous stress.

I think we have to look at the fact of whether it is only a cost or whether it is an investment. If we invest in another Minister, are we going to be able to operate more efficiently? Will this mean that departments will be better run? It is quite possible that they will be. It has been said that everyone knew the workload when they ran for the position. That is true, but it doesn't mean that everyone accepted that that workload had to remain the same. It could also mean that people came in here knowing that they wanted more Ministers.

We also have to remember that the deficit has to be reduced. There have been some good arguments raised for not having a Minister. We still haven't had a chance to look at the numbers related to the cost of adding a new Minister. I would like to see these costs.

We also know that we have a new committee structure. Perhaps the new committee structure will relieve the workload on the Ministers. Perhaps the Ministers will be able to handle the job. I am also in agreement that we should revisit this, but we should set a timetable so that we know when it will be revisited. Thank you.