Thank you, Madam Speaker. To the motion. Madam Speaker, the committee uses some rather strong language, "Members expected that the government would be further advanced in the process of deficit management". We are fairly advanced, Madam Speaker. "Lack of preparation", we are fairly well-prepared, Madam Speaker, in our opinion. I do admit that the paper does not clearly specify or assess the details of their various choices, but I heard in the review, from various Members, that it's consultation, consultation, consultation. If I had come forward with a paper and placed it upon the table and said, well this is what we intend to do, then I would have likely received a response from Members saying, well you never consulted us, you didn't priorize with us. So, I placed a rather bland paper before this House to enable Members to do exactly what it says here in the issues and recommendations on page five, "Members believe" and I quote Madam Speaker, "that the government must establish spending priorities which accurately reflect the current political realities of all Members of the Legislative Assembly and citizens of the Northwest Territories". Where else am I going to get that political reality except from Members of this House? Who better can I get the reading of the Northwest Territories and its constituents from, but the Members who represent those constituents right on the floor of this House. So, that was the information that I was looking for, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, the report goes on to say that we must make an effort to have a plan for ten years. Madam Speaker, there is not a government across this country right now that can plan beyond three or four years. That's how fast this fiscal situation

is moving in the Northwest Territories, in the Yukon, in all of the provinces and with the Government of Canada.

Madam Speaker, it's like trying to keep up with a runaway train. What I wanted to do, by placing that discussion paper before this House, is to say look, give us some ideas of what the priorities are of this particular Legislative Assembly. I heard last week, I listened and I learned that social issues are a large concern. That's good, I know what to take to FMB the next time I'm there, to discuss with the Members the fact that you want to see senior citizens taken care of. You want to see the food basket money increase. You want to see that we have caring programs for people who are not as fortunate as us. I take that and understand it and I will do something about it.

But, you see, there are other things that we need to know. We need to know whether you want to priorize housing or whether you want to priorize education. We want to know whether you want to invest money in the economy. We want to know whether you want to continue with parks. We want to know whether you want to continue with an infrastructure for transportation. We want to know whether you want us to put pavement down on the road or leave it as gravel. We want to know if you want to put a new airport in or lengthen an airport or put in a new building. We want to know what Members are feeling, with regard to the political aspirations of their communities and the needs and the wants of their constituents. That was the reason that we placed this paper there.

Now, if you want us to come to you and say, well this is the decision that we've made based on what we've seen and heard maybe from Chambers of Commerce, maybe from the Association of Municipalities, maybe from a lot of the social organizations out there, that's fine. We'll bring that back to you and say, this is the budget as we see it. But, we really would have liked to get some discussion going to give us some direction about where you, the people who represent the people of the Northwest Territories, are coming from.

So, I will not be moving the motion today to move it into committee of the whole, Madam Speaker, as I think the committee report definitely suggests that I shouldn't do that. I want to let Members know that I am prepared to consult in groups, individually, any way you want to do it, on how we put together our budgets for the next three, four, five years and what emphasis should be placed upon those budgets. Thank you, Madam Speaker.