Thank you, Madam Speaker. Very often it is during the summer months when we are not sitting, that issues arise that MLAs have to deal with and don't have a forum to voice their public opinion. Even though since last February, there has been revealed a capital site development plan, it wasn't until the early summer that the residents of Yellowknife became fully aware of the impact the development plan could have on businesses and properties surrounding Frame Lake.

Madam Speaker, the concern I have today is the manner in which that plan was developed, especially the way in which very good friends of mine, people I have worked with for many years, were successful in blaming Members of this House for coming up with a wonderful, elaborate plan that suited their needs, but may not suit the citizens of Yellowknife.

Madam Speaker, I would like to make it a matter of record, that Members of this Assembly were not consulted on this development plan. It was something which was done within the bureaucracy and there never was a consultation process in which Members of this Chamber were asked their opinions as to whether we needed to have a site that extended twice the area of the Parliament of Canada. That caused considerable outrage to people in this city.

The point I want to make, Madam Speaker, is that it is very unusual that public servants can get away with blaming their masters for something that they never did. It never happened in my time -- 20 years of public service -- otherwise, you are down the road. But this happened this summer. It was a double heat for us. We took heat when we first decided, with great foresight, in my opinion, to build this place and then we had to take heat for someone else's decision about the way the whole thing would develop from there. I want to make it a public record that we were involved in the original design, but we were not involved in the development of the plan for the site. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

---Applause