Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This business of putting in results and having some kind of system for knowing whether we are achieving efficiency or whether things are being effective, in my opinion, does the opposite to what some Members may think would happen. If we are happy to proceed with a system where, even if it is lousy, we can convince somebody else that we should do it anyway, that is a terrible message to give to the public. You know, "I want it. It is no good, but I want it." We have to stop doing that. What we have to have is some basis for justifying what we do and what we continue to do. For example, if a locally elected person, or one of us, can demonstrate to this House that we have been doing something and we can give 50 reasons, 50 measures, which show that this is a stupid thing to do, then we do not look like very wise people if we go ahead and do it.
What this system would do is to give us ordinary Members ammunition to support our case. If, for example, we go ahead and -- using the example that has already been given -- grades are being extended, and we find out that attendance does improve and that grade levels improve, that dropouts go down, that enrolment is up, and parents are happier -- if you could find that there are 30 or 40 things that you measure and can show that what you are doing is good, we should be a happy bunch of campers, because then we have made a wise decision and we can say, "Boy, I feel good. We have done something; we have spent money, and look at all the great things that we can prove have happened as a result of our doing it." That is what measurement is all about.
If, for example, you have a policy and you decide that you are going to build something and in the policy you are going to make sure that you are going to create so many jobs and that those jobs would be, in fact, undertaken by local people -- that they would be spending their money in local stores, that the suppliers, in fact, would be people who have all kinds of northern interconnections, that the money stays in the North --you could build six, seven or eight measures and then you could say, "Wow, this is really working and I can prove it." That is the kind of stuff that I need, as an elected person, if I make a decision.
I cannot make a decision and say, "I support this because it will make him or her happy." It has to be something that can show that it is really being responsible to all the people of the Northwest Territories, that we are making decisions on the basis of results, that what we are doing pays off and is good. Thank you.