Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The motion is a good motion. Members and the public and my constituents should know that I also have advocated that it should be done within existing resources, even in the face of the kinds of cuts that we will be asked to make. So that should be made clear.

During the campaign, my constituents asked me about my salary as a Minister and as an MLA and about the benefits that come with those. I made a commitment, as I did in 1987, that I would support substantial reductions in the salaries of Ministers and MLAs. I've indicated that to the Caucus last week. I'm in favour of substantial reductions to the benefits that come to us as Members of this Legislature and to Ministers as well. I've advocated that there should be a substantial reduction, as well, to the office of Speaker and to the salary and the benefits that flow to that office. I want to make that as a matter of record because I don't want the media, which sometimes doesn't do its homework, to suggest that I want to spend money lavishly on the creation of yet another position because that is not the case at all. I've advocated, as well, that there should be substantial cuts to the budget of the Legislative Assembly. Every Member of this Legislature will be asked and should be asked what their position is with regard to those points that I've just raised.

Personally, I know what it is to try to cut the budget of the Legislature and the Government of the Northwest Territories by $5 million, by $10 million. I know what it's like when you try to recover from a reduction in your budget of $17 million. I know what it's like to try to make very difficult changes such as the strategy that we developed a few years ago to get out of staff housing. I was the Minister responsible for that and I know how difficult it was, not only to keep the Legislature onside but individual Members of Cabinet onside because it was seen as politically very difficult to implement. But we've done that. When I suggest that I see merits in a ninth seat, I don't want to suggest it either that I'm not willing to work. I know what the job of the Premier entails. I know what the job of a Minister entails, I've been at it for eight years. Every job that I've been assigned as a Minister I've not only started it, I've finished it. I think it's important to point it out that I spent eight months of my life travelling across Canada on the constitutional process, eight months of it. On the average, two weeks each month for eight months I spent at it. I not only finished the job, I had also delivered the vote in the Northwest Territories.

So there are challenges and there are demands made on us as Ministers. I know sometimes I have a question. I know we spent close to $1 million pursuing the issue of the northern accord, and it's substantially more than that if you look at all the other times we tried to make a deal on this. You factor in the timing of the negotiations, you factor in the amount of time we spent strategizing and spending daily time focusing on this issue, and you wonder why we still haven't got the job done.

So sometimes things are not as straightforward as they seem; while you think you're saving salary money, for me there is the very real potential that sometimes we don't spend enough time on the issues that we are assigned to take care of.

I know every one of us who have been Ministers, we have meetings in the evenings, we have meetings at 7:00 in the morning, we have meetings on weekends just to finish up the work we have and sometimes that's not enough. Sometimes you'll find that letters are not responded to very quickly, there are issues that need to be pondered week in and week out before there is a resolution to it. So there are the hidden costs. How much does it cost every time a Minister needs another week to make a decision because they have two or three other portfolios and 50 other issues to deal with that are more pressing at the time?

I offer these comments because, as I say, I've been a Minister for eight years and I thought it was important to take a position on this issue. But I don't want to close the debate without making some points in defence of myself because I know one MLA about three weeks ago said they heard I was lazy, that I didn't work very hard as a Minister. I don't know ii Ronna Bremer and Marina Devine have gotten a hold of that one yet, but these things tend to take a life of their own so it was important for me to make these points before the points are concluded because surely there has to be some substance to the impressions we create of one another. I don't want it to be seen that I'm not willing to do the work, because I have. I've gotten good report cards, for what they were worth, in the last two terms as a Minister. I have gotten a lot of the work that I've been assigned done, a substantial amount of work. I was very willing to share the work and give people the opportunity to share the experience. As I said, I am on record as being in favour of very substantial cuts to my salary and my benefits as an MLA and as a Minister and to those of the Legislature as well. Thank you.