Mr. Speaker, I would like to say that many of these commissions are set up as a total government decision, not only cabinet Ministers but all the Legislative Assembly, and I think it is out of our respect for continuing change in the NWT, different aspirations, always to revisit these issues as they come up. I do not consider them stupid. I believe at certain times we do certain things because they are appropriate at that time, or are thought to be appropriate.
In terms of the consolidation of government departments, this is thought to be a way of doing business more efficiently. These are not new things. We quote "Strength at Two Levels" continually. But all that is is a reaffirmation of what people have been saying all along, to try to put it into some focus.
I know that in the past, when we try to deal with certain areas, the functions are in different agencies of the government; and any cabinet Minister can tell you very clearly, who has had these responsibilities, that when you have a certain responsibility and half of the decision-making is in another department and a quarter of it is in another, it is very difficult. So we are really doing a practical exercise in that regard.
As well, over the years, whenever we negotiate with the federal government, the federal government says, "What kind of vessel are you going to put this in so we have a clear line of what you are going to do?" For the time it is necessary to do that. But each time that we have people with new ideas and then we have some crunches that we have to live under in terms of financial restraints -- maybe we cannot afford all the things that are out there and all the priorities we set. But what we are trying to do now, in terms of "Strength at Two Levels", is to consolidate the ideas that have been collected from many regions and different people who have been in the process, to make ourselves more efficient and more credible.
I believe the exercise here, if people think that past decisions are not appropriate or if the commission -- the commission is a body of the whole Legislative Assembly, as thought to be appropriate, for dealing with the issues that are fundamental in trying to get some ideas on the western territory. If the Members feel it is inappropriate, well let us look at it. We do not make the decisions as a cabinet alone. Many of these broader decisions, such as on the Western Constitutional Commission, we made collectively. Thank you.