Madam Speaker, I have listened with interest to the Members. I want to thank the Members who are supporting me. I also want to thank the Members who are being honest enough to vote against it and also the Members who are abstaining. This is a controversial issue. I realize that, Madam Speaker. Even though we say sometimes we are a consensus government, when it comes to controversial issues, it is almost predictable who will vote for it, abstain from it and who will vote against it. Any kind of motion that is diplomatic, nice and easy, or whatever you want to call it, gets unanimous consent. But when we take on a controversial issue like this, we should maintain some kind of integrity in this House and among the Members too. This is an issue that is far too big to ignore.

I say to ordinary Members that we have dwelt on this issue for a couple of weeks now and we've wasted our time, a lot of our time, trying to address this issue. The only solution we could find was to make a nice little statement against the Premier. But, we really haven't addressed the issue, and that is, whether or not certain Ministers can take on certain responsibilities.

The other issue, Madam Speaker, is that during the next year a lot of committee Members are going to be tied down with committee work on the government's behalf. I just cannot see ordinary Members running after Ministers, doing follow-up work, while they should be out there doing their own work and committee work too. So, whatever happens, a Member has to be able to travel and not worry about what is going to happen at the Executive level. They should be able to travel and say, this Minister will follow up on my concerns.

I want to tell all the Members here, and especially the ordinary Members, that I'm not after the Minister's job. I'm also not afraid of the Minister or afraid to address this issue in public. I'm not going to be afraid because I want to do certain projects or perhaps I have been asking for little favours and I'm afraid I will lose them. This goes beyond what you are going to get in capital allocations. This goes beyond whether or not you're going to get in next fall. This goes beyond that. It is a situation about whether we, as Members, the 24 of us, can carry out our work without overburdening each other. I see myself perhaps being overburdened by a Minister who maybe cannot carry out her duties.

Madam Speaker, the other thing I want to say, too, is I'm not on any of the Executive's consultation lists. I've been a Member now for ten years and have yet to see Ministers coming up to me to ask certain favours. If they did, they would be very lucky if I did it. I'm not a person who is easily manipulated. Members of the Executive Council have been entrusted with a great responsibility by the Members of this House. We have entrusted these Members with these responsibilities because we felt they were the best people to do the job.

I appreciate that the Minister regularly faces difficult situations and difficult decisions. They are not perfect and they will sometimes make mistakes. Occasional errors in judgement are part of any job and a Member of this House understands that. But the Members of this House, indeed all citizens of the Northwest Territories, expect a certain standard of performance from Members of the Executive Council. The work of the government directly affects almost every aspect of life of every northerner. If that work is not done properly, northerners can suffer.

Madam Speaker, I regret it is my opinion that the honourable Member for Baffin Central has not been able to provide strong guidance and leadership to her department. While I appreciate the efforts the honourable Member has made as a Minister, I feel her performance is not adequate and has not met the expectations of some Members of this House or of the residents of the Northwest Territories.

We have given the honourable Member every opportunity to show this House she is able to perform the tasks assigned to her, but we cannot continue to dance around this issue. Some Members of this House have lacked confidence in the honourable Member's ability for quite awhile and we must now make a decision. We must either leave the issue alone or decide now to face facts. I believe it is time to thank the honourable Member for her efforts and to find another Member who may be more capable and better able to get the job done. That is why I have introduced this motion of non-confidence today.

Madam Speaker, I hold nothing against Members for the decisions they are going to make, nor do I hope the honourable Member for Baffin Central holds this motion against me. I would request a recorded vote.