Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am not as optimistic as Mr. Ballantyne is about the low cost implementation of Bill 6. I say that mostly from experienced knowledge that bills are never cheap. We had a very good idea, having hunters and trappers and Renewable Resources working together; that became a rather expensive operation, too. So have other bills that have been introduced, too. If you are going to have any kind of teeth or at least enforcement of the act, it is never inexpensive.
I already stated most of my points before I introduced the motion that was defeated, unfortunately. However, I would like to make a couple of other points. As I stated before, I am not against the content or spirit of this bill, but some of us who do not live in Yellowknife or other larger centres and who are not self-sufficient or partly self-sufficient through local property taxes, have to rely very heavily on government contributions, especially from the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, to build very basic things like municipal roads and other basic necessities which are enjoyed by the larger centres without any assistance from the territorial government. This, for example, is going to bite quite a chunk. If it's going to be approximately $1 million, it would take away how many home ownership assistance program houses, for example, that we have to finance ourselves now, and other essential programs which are necessary.
Also, I can see right away that you will probably need a Commissioner or at least an ombudsman because, just like the Languages Commissioner, you cannot rely solely on the government's good graces to get this act implemented. You'll probably need a researcher, probably just a share of costs, probably some librarians and other equipment that are necessary today, such as computers, et cetera.
I also recall the history of when it was introduced more than two years ago, when, according to Mr. Pollard's budget address, with good financial management planning, we were heading for a balanced budget. It was good then to introduce something like this that would give us a little bit of a deficit, maybe a million, not too much.
However, in 1994, we're already seeing extraordinary cutbacks, especially from the federal government, that really put us in bad shape. I don't know, I was going to call this the political popularity act. I guess I would be wrong with the title so I'll continue to call it the Access to Information Act. If you think it's politically good to introduce it now, then I think you would have to be very careful. When the tough get going, the public, themselves, are the first ones to start trimming what is luxury and what is necessity.
I think the public, before the government are already tightening their belts at home. They're not buying new skidoos anymore. They're trying to use their boats a little bit longer. Their houses are repaired with moderate winterizing. We don't realize it when we're sitting here, but if you go home after the end of October, when November hits in Nunavut, you are going to see a lot of tight budgeting. I think they expect the same thing. So if you want to have a political popularity act introduced, then you have to be careful. Just because it was introduced two years ago, because it was popular with the media and other interest groups, you'd better not forget who is at home. They're probably saying okay, this is a very good bill, but we cannot really afford it right now because you, as a government, cannot really afford to deny the basic necessities that are absolutely necessary right now, especially in my small communities.
Mr. Chairman, as I stated before, I cannot support this bill, not because of the content, but because we cannot really afford that kind of expenditure. There will be a lot of pressure from a very small population of our society to get this particular information.
I hope this is not anger, Mr. Chairman. I was told that during the Standing Committee on Legislation hearings, there were approximately 26 ordinary citizens supporting this legislation. That leaves approximately 59,926 not really caring for it at this time. I feel pretty safe in not supporting this bill at this time. Qujannamiik.