Mr. Speaker, I would like to say to the honourable Member, Mr. Dennis Patterson, that a lot of us have a great appreciation for the long years of service that he has offered to this House as Minister.

Over the last few days, three more important portfolios were assigned to him in a very difficult time. Many of us over the past years have had the privilege of operating a government that had a lot of money. The financial situation across Canada and in the Northwest Territories was much more elastic and allowed us to make many more mistakes and allowed additional resources to make up for some areas we might have missed. However, we are no longer in that situation and we are not alone.

I want to thank Mr. Patterson for accepting those difficult portfolios and doing an excellent job as a Minister. However, we all conclude that in this Legislative Assembly certain actions are inappropriate. We understand that and we have to judge according to those particular actions. What the Minister did was inappropriate, and it was unfortunate because I believe it reflected on a situation that was tenuous in the best of instances. I would like also to say that being a Cabinet Minister is a very important part of this Legislative Assembly and we all get attached to and concerned about the kind of job we do, as this Minister has done.

However, as I said before, it is unfortunate and it was an inappropriate action. I admire the honourable Member for taking an honourable stance and doing the right thing. Thank you.