Hear, hear.

As an aboriginal, it was very gratifying to see Mr. Joe Kunuk, an Inuk, elected as a mayor in one of the Northwest Territories largest tax-based municipalities.

I, too, would have liked to have been able to have risen as the same time as my honourable colleagues, full of praise and good will, and congratulate the people elected in town and educational councils in my own constituencies. But that was not to be. For this reason, Madam Speaker, as usual, I am a bit confused. Why do the tax-based communities get to have their election in the fall or, at least, what passes for fall in the Northwest Territories?

Maybe the residents of the tax-based communities can't handle the cold. Maybe they are afraid to go out in the dark. Why do smaller hamlets or charter communities get to have their election in December, which is definitely the dead of winter in the Northwest Territories? Is it because everyone works in a tax-based community and their officials want to make sure there is no daylight or no raging snowstorm on election day?

I think that whoever decided that community elections in the north should be held in December was a little addled. Maybe they thought that the residents in the smaller communities are more likely to be pursuing traditional lifestyles, such as hunting and fishing, so they would have nothing better to do in December than to fight their way through a blinding snowstorm to exercise their right to vote.

Indeed, Madam Speaker, in the high Arctic, there is total darkness during the election, which may or may not be appropriate.

---Laughter

I don't think, Madam Speaker, there is an appropriate time for an election in the Northwest Territories. The spring is no good in some areas because of ratting season. The summer is no good in other areas because...

Mr. Gargan.

Madam Speaker, I would like to have unanimous consent to continue my statement.

Thank you, Madam Speaker and honourable Members. The summer is no good in other areas because of fishing and hunting. Fall and winter are no good because people go hunting for moose and caribou. Fall is also open season on ducks and, I guess, municipal politicians in tax-based municipalities. Summer is no good in a lot of smaller communities because that is when the construction and tourism employment occurs. It is also no good in Yellowknife because half of the government employees take off on holidays.

I don't know, Madam Speaker. Maybe the dead of winter with no sunlight and the chance of a blizzard is the best time to hold an election in the smaller, mostly aboriginal, communities in the Northwest Territories. Like I said, Madam Speaker, I am confused.

---Applause

Thank you. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Whitford.