Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I do appreciate the chance to discuss this in committee of the whole. Unfortunately, because of other business in this session and perhaps my own negligence, I did not have a chance to talk to the honourable Member who moved this motion, and I generally feel that when a major initiative of this kind comes forward -- previous Houses did initiatives on education, on housing and on the special economy -- it is very important for a Member making such an initiative to try to consult fully with all Members to make sure that such an important thrust is supported by everyone and understood by everyone. I am afraid I am going to have to make my criticisms of his motion here in committee of the whole.

I do want to agree with the Member for Thebacha that obviously these are important issues. I just spent my reply to the Commissioner's Opening Address talking about social issues. They are important and we need to pay attention to them, and I do not disagree in principle with the establishment of a committee, but I must say, Mr. Chairman, with the greatest of respect to the honourable Member for Inuvik, this motion and terms of reference look like they have been drafted by a bureaucrat. It is all about service delivery, policy, legislation, administrative organization and departmental infrastructure, and I feel that the terms of reference are very narrow.

From reading this motion for the establishment of the committee, it looks to me as if the terms of reference assume that all the solutions to our social and health issues lie within government; that if we tinker with the policy, the establishment, change dotted lines to solid lines and change the organization, that somehow things are going to get better. There is talk in the motion of public consultation. I frankly do not think that very many members of the public are going to comment on issues that seem to be repeated in the terms of reference and in the preamble, which keeps talking about things like service delivery models.

Mr. Chairman, I am not saying that these things should not be addressed, nor that they do not need attention, but I find the whole thrust of the motion to be focused on government, on organization and therefore very narrow, and I think I agree with the honourable Member for Thebacha that there are some very fundamental community issues that have to be addressed as well if we are really going to make a difference on these grievous social problems. I agree that we do not need to spend a lot of money finding out what those problems are, but I do believe that in addition to talking about things like infrastructure, service delivery models and the bureaucratic jargon that is replete in this motion, I think we need to talk about fundamental issues with the public such as the responsibilities of parents, the roles of parents, the roles of communities in looking after themselves, and I do not see that in this motion. To me it is all about policy, legislation, organization, and I find the terms of reference incomplete and for such an important initiative.

I would respectfully suggest to the honourable Member that he take note of the comments made today, take a little more time to solicit support from Members and give us time to talk with our constituents over the holidays. I would very much like to get input from the social agencies in my community and the socially concerned persons, about how they would like to see us tackle problems of addiction, family violence, sexual abuse, that we all know exist. But I think the honourable Member for Inuvik could benefit and make this a more complete, more supported initiative, if he gave us a little more time to have input. So I would be interested in his responses and perhaps he could persuade me that he had these other issues in mind.

I will say again, the thing looks like a government review. It looks like something that could be done by a government department or a management consultant -- the way the terms of reference are drawn. It does not seem to emphasize the human, political, basic, fundamental family problems that we all know about. It is all oriented toward the government reorganizing the government. And that, Mr. Chairman, is not going to be the only solution. It may be part of it, but we have to, as Mrs. Marie-Jewell said, we have to start coping with how we change attitudes in communities, how we get people taking more responsibility for their lives, how we encourage people to discharge their responsibilities as parents.

So I find the terms of reference quite incomplete. They are very important. I hope no honourable Members would say that we should have a committee so we will just go ahead with terms of reference that may not be perfect. I would rather see us agree in principle today and say we are going to establish a committee, but get the terms of reference properly done. I will say again, I would like to have some input from my constituents before I finalize this thing. The deadline is September 30, 1993, I am told we do not have much money to spend on a committee before the end of the fiscal year anyway. Why do we not take the time to consult our constituencies, come back in February, get terms of reference that are real and responsive to the views of all Members and do it properly. Thank you.